


Since I Met You (I've Never Been Good with Words)

by etextraordinary



Category: Glee
Genre: Blaine Big Bang Challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 22:14:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etextraordinary/pseuds/etextraordinary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine is a great Kindergarten teacher, but he happens to be very shy when it comes to adults.  His best friend Sam and his longtime girlfriend, Mercedes, set him up on a date with her best friend, Kurt.  This is the story of their relationship and the struggles they encounter during the first school year they are together!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Since I Met You (I've Never Been Good with Words)

**Author's Note:**

> First, I want to say thank you to my amazing beta and cheerleader for this fic, Lauren. She is the best and has put up with me whining and freaking out about this for the last like three months. Second, I need to thank Ashley for her amazing artwork that is just so so gorgeous and perfect. There are not enough words to thank you both! I need to make a small confession, I didn’t want to go with this title, but the song has been stuck in my head all summer and it really works nicely with Blaine in this story. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Link to Art: [Here!](http://muse09.tumblr.com/post/60625269057/hey-there-guys-this-little-doodly-is-for-the)

September

“No way, you are so wrong.”

“Whatever, bro. You know it too, that’s why you won’t give up on this topic.”

“Nope. I won’t give up because I know I’m right.”

“Yeah, see, that’s the thing. You're not. You couldn’t be more wrong.”

“Nuh uh. You’re the one, who is in the wrong, my friend.”

“Nah, I’m totally right. Clearly Bucky was the better sidekick,” Sam said stabbing a bite of his leftover chicken casserole and shoving it in his mouth definitively.

“You are so wrong; you can’t even tell that you’re wrong. Robin is the better sidekick. Firstly, he has a better costume; it isn’t just a ‘child’s version’ of the hero’s costume…” Sue Sylvester said, sitting down at their table and interrupting Blaine.

“What are you two airheads fighting about now?”

Sam was the first to respond, “Mr. Anderson here thinks that Robin is the superior sidekick. While I, on the other hand, know exactly how wrong he is; because Bucky is the best sidekick ever.”

Sue looked between the two men, not exactly sure what she was hearing, “I have no idea who Bucky and Rosie are, but I think it is ridiculous that two adult men, who are teachers, for Christ’s sake, are fighting over them. Unless these are the two broads you banged last night.” Sue glanced at Blaine, and without missing a beat, added, “Oh, that’s right, Blaine here is so shy he won’t even talk to a girl, let alone a man, who might actually fuck him.” 

Blaine looked at Sue, taken aback by her harsh words. This really shouldn’t have shocked him, since she had been saying shit like that to him since his first day at Barak Obama Elementary. She was just harsh to everyone. He supposed it had something to do with her being a gym teacher. Blaine could remember how all of his gym teachers, even in college, were total jerks. 

Sue stood and left as abruptly as she arrived, leaving in her wake a confused and hurt Blaine and Sam shoveling his lunch into his mouth. When Sam looked up to chew, Blaine was staring at his lunch, looking dejected. 

“Donf beh sof…” Sam swallowed his gigantic bite of food, “hard on yourself, Blaine. So you’re shy. Big deal. You just haven’t met the right guy yet.”

Blaine looked up at his friend, “But how am I going to meet him if I can’t even talk to him?” 

Sam started to respond, but before he could say anything, Blaine picked up his partially eaten lunch, threw it in the trash, and walked out of the lounge.

***  
After school, Blaine’s chat pinged on his computer while he was tidying up the reading area of his classroom.

SEvans: You ok, man?

BAnderson: Yeah, just finished putting away books. Legos are up next.

SEvans: I don’t know how you do it. I could never deal with 25 5-year-olds all day and then clean up after them all afternoon.

BAnderson: They’re fine. They listen to me, unlike your 9-year-old brats.

SEvans: Well I’ll stick with 4th grade, and leave all the Kindergarteners for you!

BAnderson: Thank you for the consideration. What do you need, Sam?

SEvans: I was thinking about what Sue said at lunch today.

BAnderson: Why do you bother? She is horrible and wrong; I haven’t given her another thought since then.

BAnderson: Besides, she is just mean to be mean. 

SEvans: Yes, but what she said about you being shy made sense to me. You don’t really ever go out and meet guys.

BAnderson: I’m fine, Sam.

SEvans: I know you are, and I’m not trying to say you’re not.

SEvans: Look, Mercedes’ best friend is gay, let us set you up with him.

BAnderson: I appreciate it, but I don’t really need you guys to set me up. 

BAnderson: I have dated plenty of guys; just none of them were the right one for me.

SEvans: You can’t lie to me. I have known you since college, and I know exactly how many guys you have dated.

SEvans: In the last six years, you have dated two guys. And neither of them lasted longer than three weeks.

BAnderson: And?

SEvans: You once confessed to me that you wanted to get married and have children and a dog and a white picket fence.

BAnderson: That is the worst sentence I’ve seen, and I teach Kindergarten. Seriously, you teach kids how to write?

SEvans: Shut it.

SEvans: You are just deflecting. Blaine, I know you, I’ve been your best friend for a long time, please let me help you find love.

BAnderson: You have been my best friend for a long time, and if you want to continue being my best friend, you will drop it.

SEvans: FINE! 

SEvans: Will you at least come over to dinner with Mercedes and I on Saturday night? She has a new chicken dish she wants to try.

BAnderson: This better not be a ploy to get me on a date.

SEvans: I swear on my comic books, it will not be a blind date.

BAnderson: What time should I be there?

SEvans: 7?

BAnderson: Sounds good. Did you still want to go out for wings and beer tonight?

SEvans: I am offended that you even felt the need to ask if I was going to attend our standing weekly date.

BAnderson: Well, I don’t know if your girl’s schedule changed or something.

SEvans: No, Thursday nights are still her night to work late. 

BAnderson: Sounds good, usual time, usual place?

SEvans: Indeed. See you then.

BAnderson: Laters.

***  
Sam was already half-way through his first beer when Blaine got to the bar. He sat down across from his friend.

“What’s up?” Blaine asked.

“Nothing.” Sam took a swig of his beer.

“You’re early.”

“Yeah, I didn’t have any grading to do tonight, so I was lonely and headed here early.”

“I’m sorry, man.”

“It’s okay, sometimes the house is just too quiet and too large, ya know?”

“Yeah I do know. Sometimes my apartment feels too large.”

The waitress appeared then, Blaine ordered his usual and their wings. After she left he said, “I’ve got an idea. Let’s eat these and then go back to your house and watch Batman.”

Sam looked up from where he had been staring into his beer longingly, eyes shining with mischief. “But I get to be Batman this time; you can be your favorite superhero sidekick.”

Blaine nodded, “Yes, you can be Batman this time. Besides, I make a way better Robin than you.”

They drank beer and ate their wings, one spicy and one honey BBQ in mostly companionable silence, watching the late season Basketball game on the thousands of screens on the walls of the bar. Neither of them was really following the game, considering it was the Knicks playing and not their team, the Celtics. Blaine realized that being a Celtics fan in Manhattan… well Brooklyn was sacrilege. 

They took the subway back to ‘Casa Samcedes’, as they had taken to calling their cramped townhome in East Flatbush, right down the street from their school.

As they turned the corner where the school came into view, for maybe the thousandth time, Blaine said, “I don’t know how you live across the street from where you work. Don’t you see your students all the time, like outside of the classroom?”

Sam shrugged as he stuck the key into the lock, “Sometimes. But I think it makes me more of a real person, who has a life outside of the school.”

Blaine laughed, “I kinda like them thinking I live at the school, I don’t need 5-year-olds thinking I have a private life.”

Sam put his hand on Blaine’s shoulder, “You don’t have a private life, dude.”

Blaine glared at him and shrugged out of his touch. 

“Sorry man, it’s just that if you’re not out with me you are sitting at home.”

“That’s just not true, Sam.”

Sam walked towards the kitchen, “When is the last time you went out without me?”

Blaine thought for a minute, standing in the entryway with his coat half off, before removing it and following Sam, “Well, last week I grabbed a coffee after work with Tina? That counts.”

Sam turned around handing Blaine a beer, “Barely. When was the last time you went out with a guy?”

Blaine drank his beer, scowling at Sam.

“Jesus, alright. I’m sorry. That look could kill!”

Blaine smiled proudly, “So are we just going to stand here and discuss my dating life or are we going to dress up like superheroes at watch Batman?”

Thirty minutes later, Blaine was dressed up as Robin, or well, the closest thing Sam had, green leggings with a red leotard, a yellow utility belt and cape. Blaine put a black mask on, and when he wasn’t looking Sam put Mercedes’ cat ears on his head. Sam, meanwhile, had a black bodysuit on, which clung to his every muscle, and a black cape. He didn’t have a mask, so he just wore a dark grey ski mask from their honeymoon to Aspen.

Blaine and Sam were wearing just socks, because Mercedes would kill them if she ever caught wind of them wearing shoes in her house. They were sliding around the living room, all the furniture pushed to one side, fighting each other and then fighting the villains on the TV.

They continued to fight along with the movie, and during the slow action parts, they would flop on the floor and continue to poke each other.

About halfway through the movie, Blaine picked up a couch cushion and smacked Sam across the head with it. The movie was quickly forgotten as it quickly devolved into a full blown pillow war with forts and battalions; of pillows.

Of course, Mercedes came home right as her man was growling in his best Batman impression, “Surrender now Kitten Boy, or I will demolish your fort with my fluff battalion!”

“Never, Batman. You will never takeover Fort Cuddles!”

“You cannot fight the power of the Bat, little kitty!”

Mercedes stepped into the room, just in time to see Sam slide across the floor and start beating on Blaine’s fort with his own pillow. She cleared her throat, both Sam and Blaine turned to her shocked and blushing.

Sam was the first to recover, “We were just watching Batman.” He pointed to the TV where the menu screen was playing on loop, as it had been for the last hour. “Or, well we were…”

Mercedes just nodded at her husband before saying, “Hi, Blaine.”

“Hi,” Blaine squeaked out.

“Well, have fun, boys. I’m going to go take a bath.”

As Mercedes left the room, Sam went over to Blaine for a high five, shouting “BLAM” as their hands met. Mercedes just shook her head.

***  
Blaine loved Fridays. They were the best day of the week, not because it was almost the weekend, because that didn't really mean anything different, but because he could justify doing all the ridiculous and fun activities with his students, because ‘hey, its Friday!’ Friday was also the day where his two education students could come in and assist him with messier activities.

Today was going to be amazing. He had been collecting pop bottles for weeks, and asked his students try to each bring in two bottles. They have been doing a science unit on space, which makes it the perfect time to make a ‘stars’ glitter bottle.

Blaine got to the school early to get his supplies set up, lots of corn syrup and water as well as every color of glitter in the rainbow and food coloring, and of course, most importantly, a hot glue gun. He places each item at a table covered in newspaper. Blaine knows that he is going to be technicolor and covered in glitter all weekend. He laughs to himself, thinking ‘too bad it isn’t pride this weekend’ and that maybe he should just go show it off in a gay bar. Blaine shakes his head, prepping for a day of Kindergarteners is not the time to be thinking about gay bars.

After getting everything set up for the craft, he tunes his guitar and gets his storybooks ready for morning circle. When his volunteers arrived, he walked them through the craft and then left them to play with the kids as they slowly arrive at school. Blaine took a quick minute to check his email, noting the fire drill that will be next week in his plan book. He, on a whim, checked his Facebook account; frowning at the seven messages his most recent ex-boyfriend had sent him. Blaine was trying to think of the best way to respond when the bell rang to begin class.

Blaine went through their usual routine, singing a few songs to wake up, show and tell, the calendar and then story time. Today’s story was about a girl who wanted to capture the stars and moon, so they could be nightlights in her bedroom. Blaine asks the students questions about why it is impossible to collect the stars, getting a variety of answers that showed how much the class had learned in the past week. Blaine felt a surge of pride for his class. Then they went over some basic math that they would need to use for the project.

Finally, they got to the part that Blaine was looking forward to, despite the unavoidable mess that he would spend half of the afternoon cleaning. He divided the class into three groups, with eight kids in each group, just enough for them to fit around the tables. Then each of his volunteers took the other groups to other stations, one to a math station and the other to a writing/drawing station.

The activities were going smoothly, although taking a little longer than Blaine anticipated. It was nearly lunch time when the last group was finishing up. One little boy, Aiden, pulled on Blaine’s pocket saying, “Mr. A? Can I make my bottle a rainbow of glitter?”

Blaine squatted down to be closer to his height before answering, “Of course you can, Aiden. Do you need me to help you with the glitter?”

The boy nodded. Blaine nodded in response and walked over to his spot at the glitter table. “Okay, so what color goes first in a rainbow?”

“Um…” Aiden thought for a minute, “Red?”

Blaine picked up the container of red glitter, “Yep.” He added some to the bottle. “What’s next?”

Blaine went through this process with him for each of the colors adding them a little bit at a time until the bottle was full of rainbow glitter.

“Do you want to put some color in the water too?” Blaine asked.

Aiden shook his head, “No. Cause then you can’t see the rainbows as well.”

Blaine smiled, “You are right, buddy.”

Aiden looked proud, he picked up his bottle, “Can I shake it now, Mr. A?”

Blaine looked down at the uncapped bottle, “Not yet, Aiden. We need to put the liquid in the bottle then put the cap on it before you can shake it.”

The boy looked a little sad, but agreed to wait until it was glued to shake it.

Blaine helped the students add water and corn syrup. He made sure to tightly recap each of the bottles himself before hot gluing them shut. 

Once all the students had made their star bottles, he had them come back into the circle. They chattered loudly, excited about the craft they made and how cool they looked when you shook them. Some of the boys even got into a fight to see who could shake the bottle the hardest. This, naturally, ended up with one of the boys losing his grip on the bottle and it flying across the room to hit one of his helpers in the face. The boy looked mortified and shamed at his mistake, but the teachers could barely contain their laughter.

When it was time for lunch, Blaine made sure the students left the star bottles in their cubbies. Blaine did one last check of his classroom before he headed out to the teacher’s lounge for lunch. He catalogued the mess that he would have to clean up before afternoon naps and what could wait until after school. He noticed that Aiden was still sitting at his spot in the circle. Blaine walked over sitting down next to him.

“What’s going on, Aiden?”

“Mr. A, can I ask you a question?’

“Of course, anytime.”

“Am I allowed to give you a present?”

Blaine was surprised, that was not the question he was anticipating. “Yes, you can; but only if you want to. I don’t expect you to give me anything, except your homework!” Blaine bumped Aiden in the side with his arm.

Aiden smiled, “Good. Cause I want to give you this.” Aiden handed Blaine his rainbow star bottle. “I made it for you.”

“Thank you, Aiden.” Blaine said, “Why did you make it rainbow?”

Aiden pointed to the small rainbow flag pinned to the bulletin board next to Blaine’s desk in the far corner of the room. He had all but forgotten it was there.

“I see your flag every morning and it makes me happy, so I thought I could make you another rainbow and it would make you happy!”

Blaine smiled, he didn’t expect any of his students to be quite so attentive. “Thank you, it does make me happy!”

Blaine shook the bottle looking at the glitter for a minute before gently nudging Aiden, who was mesmerized by the bottle, “Don’t you want to go get some lunch?”

Aiden, seeming to have forgotten that he was missing lunch, nodded and said, “Yeah, I am hungry.”

Blaine nodded, “Well they have my favorite today, chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes.”

Aiden lit up, “That’s my favorite too, Mr. A!”

Blaine stood up, reaching out his hand to pull the boy to his feet, “Well, then. I think we should go get some!”

“Yeah!” Aiden agreed, still holding Blaine’s hand as they walked out to the cafeteria.

After getting his lunch, Blaine decided to forgo the teacher’s lounge and go back to his room to make Aiden a star bottle, having a feeling that the boy would be sad if he didn’t have one, even though he had given his away.

Blaine’s instinct was correct, when the class returned from lunch, Aiden looked around at his friends all playing with their bottles, and he didn’t have one. Blaine walked over to him with the bottle hidden behind his back.

“Aiden,” Blaine said, “Do you think it is okay for teachers to give their students presents?”

The boy looked confused for a minute, thinking hard about the question before answering, “I think so.”

“Well, good. Because I made you this.” Blaine pulled a bottle from behind his back that was filled with green water and blue glitter.

Aiden looked so excited to get the bottle, greedily taking it from Blaine’s hands, shaking it before saying, “Thanks, Mr. A. You’re the best!”

Blaine smiled, knowing that he had made the boy’s day just like the boy had made his.

***  
Blaine was at school late cleaning up his craft, then stayed even later prepping for next week’s classes and the “Back to School” night that was at the end of next week. Of course, after a long, but fulfilling day all he wanted to do was go home and relax with a movie or a good book. But luck was not on his side, there was a train that lost power on his line, so he had to take the overcrowded replacement bus home, which took instead of the usual 20 minute commute, over an hour and a half to get him even further from his apartment. Blaine sighed as he finally rounded the corner to his apartment, exhausted after a long week and looking forward to being home. Blaine tossed himself a salad and microwaved some spaghetti leftovers.

Blaine turned on his DVR to the Real Housewives marathon he recorded earlier in the week. He pulled the coffee table close to the couch so he could set his plates down on it and eat some dinner. He just keeps watching episode after episode and then eventually goes to the freezer to pull out the tub of mint chip ice cream he keeps in the freezer for after long days. 

As Blaine is eating right out of the carton, he is happy but wonders if dating someone would bring some excitement into his life and change up his everyday routine. Someone with whom he could share meals, because cooking for one was just impossible. It typically meant having leftovers at least one night a week and usually more than once. Someone with whom he could spend his nights, maybe going out and eating or seeing a movie or seeing a show or just wandering around the neighborhood. Someone with whom he could attend all the school functions where all the teachers brought their husbands and wives and children, and Blaine was just there alone. Someone with whom he could talk about his day and comfort him when he has a bad day. Someone with whom he can cuddle at night and make slow love to in the morning. Someone with whom he could share his life.

Then Blaine remembered that he would also have to give to this person as well. Everything that Blaine wants from a relationship, all the positives also have a negative, the other person wanting that too. Blaine barely has time to live for himself, how could he fit another person into that space? Blaine never has time to go out, he is too tired after a long day or week teaching to want to spend the night out dancing and drinking. Hell, he didn’t even want to do that in college. 

That doesn’t even begin to factor in that Blaine is shy around most people. He can talk to Sam and Mercedes and his family. But he never would have started talking to Sam if Sam hadn’t initiated a conversation with Blaine about his comic books. Blaine has never really successfully dated someone, a couple of random hookups and awkward dates where they just talked the whole time. Blaine can barely talk to the 5th graders, let alone the parents of his own students, how is he going to convince some well-spoken, intelligent, caring, man to fall for him. The idea was laughable.

No, Sam’s idea of setting him up with his wife’s best friend was not going to work. Because then when Blaine couldn’t talk to him on their date, it would get back to Mercedes and Sam just how bad and often times debilitating Blaine’s shyness really was. No, Blaine was better off alone, maybe he’d look into adopting a pet.

Blaine continued to shovel the rest of the quart of mint chip ice cream into his mouth. It was depressing, but it was his life and he was going to make the best of it. Besides spending a Friday night alone watching TV and eating ice cream wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was pretty fun, well compared to grading and prepping that he normally did on Fridays!

***  
At 6:30pm on Saturday Blaine had the dessert he made, peach pie, and was all ready to head over to Mercedes and Sam’s house when his phone rang. Blaine grumbled, putting the pie down and pulling the phone out of his pocket to see who was calling; his mother of course.

Blaine slid his finger across the screen to answer the call, “Hi Mom.”

“Hi, Sweetie! How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, mom. How are you and dad?”

“Oh, we’re good. Dad is out golfing with the guys and I just got back from my book club, so I thought I’d give you a call. I’m not interrupting am I?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve got a minute. I was just heading out the door.”

“Oh, were you going on a date? I know it’s been a while since, what was his name… Stephen?”

“Sean. Yeah we broke up like a year and a half ago, and we only dated for a month.” Blaine said, slightly annoyed that she was bringing this up again.

“But he was such a nice boy.”

Blaine sighed, “You never even met him.”

“But he sounded like a nice boy from the way you described him. Are you going out on a date tonight?”

“No, I am going over to Sam and Mercedes’ house for dinner. I used grandma’s recipe for peach pie.”

“Oh that’s sweet. Did you hear that Cooper’s going to be filming in New York next month?”

“Yeah, he texted me last week informing me that he would be staying with me because ‘those hotel rooms are never clean’.”

“Oh, good. Then maybe he can introduce you to some of his costars.”

“No. Absolutely not. I am not letting you and Cooper set me up on a date. No way.”

“But, Blainey, you should date someone.”

Blaine was pacing around his apartment, trying to stay calm, but he just snapped, “I tried, Mom. But I work too much and I am too shy. Okay? It’s just not going to happen any time soon. So stop bugging me about it. I am only 24 years old. I have lots of time to meet someone; and if I don’t it’s not the end of the world. Just stop, please Mom!”

The other end of the line was silent for long enough for Blaine to wonder if she hung up on him or if the call was oddly dropped. Neither were the case, she was just silent on the other end, until Blaine said, “Mom?”

“I just want you to be happy, sweetie. You know your dad and I love you very much, and we know that there is someone out there who will make you very happy. We just wish you would find them.”

“I know, Mom. When the time is right, he will be there. But I understand. But I really have to go now, I’m going to be late for dinner. I’ll call you during the week, ok?”

“I love you, Blaine.”

“I love you, too, Mom. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Talk to you soon, Bye.”

“Bye.”

Blaine sighed again, pocketing his phone and getting the pie before running off to catch the subway. He was going to be very late for dinner.

When Blaine got there, both Sam and Mercedes gave him rib-crushing hugs and then swatted him for being late, which was, admittedly, out of character. They sat down to eat the home cooked meal Mercedes had worked on all day. She made gazpacho from the tomatoes and herbs grown in her balcony garden. Then for a main course she had Mediterranean chicken kebabs and rice pilaf, which was of course amazing. 

No meal with Mercedes and Sam would be complete without lots of very strong drinks. Mercedes had found a recipe for White Peach Sangrias and made a gigantic pitcher of them. They were drinking and eating and talking and laughing. It was a wonderful night.

After pouring the last of the sangria into her own and Blaine’s glass, Mercedes asked, “So why won't you let us set you up?”

“Because I don’t need anyone to set me up on dates. I can find my own men.”

“Blaine, you know we love you. But you haven’t been on a date in nearly two years.”

Blaine took a large gulp of his drink, “I know, but I just don’t want you to set me up and then it would be awkward because it didn't work out and the guy is one of your best friends.”

“Why do you think it won’t work out?” Mercedes asked as Sam sat back down from bringing the plates into the kitchen.

“Because I am shy and have a hard time talking to men I like.”

Sam butts in, “You didn’t have a hard time talking to me, and you liked me.”

Blaine laughed, “Well I was drunk when I met you, so I wasn’t shy I was just intoxicated.”

Sam thought for a moment, “Well, maybe that’s the answer…”

Mercedes looked at him, and Blaine asked, “What?”

“Maybe you should be drunk when you meet someone.”

“Sam…” Mercedes warned.

He put a hand on her shoulder, “I don’t mean sending you to a club shitfaced to meet random guys. I was thinking more like getting you to introduce yourself and start talking to a guy that I am already pretty sure you will like.”

“I just don’t want it to be awkward.” Blaine said miserably, downing the rest of his drink.

“It won’t be. Just give it a shot, what do you have to lose?” Mercedes asked.

“I don't know.”

“Exactly!” Sam added, “Just give it a shot, Blainey, for us?”

Blaine chewed his lip for a moment, “I’ll think about it.”

They both nodded, Blaine stood up, wobbling slightly before bracing himself on the table, “I’m going to go cut the pie.” He announced.

Mercedes followed him into the kitchen, not letting Blaine anywhere near a sharp knife in his less-than-sober state. He scooped ice cream onto the plates. Sam made Greek coffees, coffee with brandy and whipped cream on top. 

They brought the desserts into the living room, Mercedes and Sam sitting on the couch and Blaine sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the coffee table. Blaine was happily eating his second piece of pie when, out of nowhere, he asked, “Tell me about this guy?”

“About Kurt?” Sam asked. Blaine nodded in response.

Mercedes was the first to answer him, “Kurt Hummel, 25, fashion designer. Kurt is my best friend, sorry hon,” Mercedes added nodding at Sam, “We have been friends since elementary school. We were the two kids no one else liked so we bonded with each other. Without Kurt I would not be the fabulous woman you see sitting in front of you. Kurt had a hard time in high school, he was the only out gay kid in our school. The football players singled him out and made his live a living hell for three years. I’m sure most people would have tried to blend in, not stand out as much, but the bullying just made Kurt stand out more. He wore even wilder clothing, made himself stand out even more.

“Then the first chance he got, he left for New York and barely looked back. He’s kind, loving, talented, smart, and hot as hell. Blaine, he’s great for you, you really should call him, he is very nice and I just know he would like you. You have the kind of 1950s flair that he loves!”

“I don't know.”

Sam added, “How about I send Kurt a text right now that you are going to be texting him, and then you can go from there.”

“I… ok. Fine.” Blaine slumped over, his head in his hands. Mercedes couldn’t tell if he was crying or just so overwhelmed by the whole situation he couldn’t sit up. She walked around the table and sat next to him.

“If it helps, he saw the pictures of you and Sam in superhero costumes and said that you looked adorable.”

Blaine looked up at her, “Adorable? My students are adorable. Adults don’t date adorable.”

“Kurt likes adorable.”

Blaine grumbled. Sam came back into the room saying, “I texted him, he seemed excited. He asked if you were the cute guy in the cape. I think that’s a good sign.”

Blaine pulled his phone out of his pocket, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Try introducing yourself and asking how he is. It doesn’t have to be something fancy, Blaine, just talk to him. He’s a nice guy.”

Blaine typed the message into his phone, deleting it and then retyping the same message twice. He stared at it for a long moment before Sam asked, “Do you want me to read it first?”

“No, I’m good.” 

Sam nodded. Blaine continued to sit there, debating whether or not to send the message. After nearly ten minutes, Blaine finally clicked send.

Now there was nothing to do but wait, impatiently. Blaine was going to need another drink if he was going to sit here and wait it out.

***  
Kurt was sitting at home, tailoring some of the new shirts he had gotten from Isabella from Vogue’s closet when he got the strangest text he’d ever received…

Sam Evans: So remember the guy that you saw on Mercedes’ phone, in the picture with me and him in super hero costumes and you said he was adorable? Well he’s over for dinner and kinda drunk and about to text you…

Sam Evans: So be nice!

Kurt wasn’t sure what to make of the text message, he knew who Sam was talking about, and the man was attractive and appeared to be a goofball, and really if he was Sam’s best friend, it would be expected. But knowing that he would be receiving a text from him momentarily was something else. Kurt didn’t know what to do.

Kurt: I’m always nice!

Sam Evans: ☺

It took nearly fifteen minutes before the text arrived, but when it did, Kurt laughed aloud.

Unknown Number: Hi Kurt, this is Blaine, the guy Sam said would text you. I didn’t know what to say so I figured I’d just say: Do you have a Band-Aid?

Kurt: Hi, Blaine. What? I’m not with you, why don’t you just ask Sam for one. Also why do you need one?

Blaine: Because I scraped my knee falling for you. ;)

Kurt: … that is not what I was expecting you to say. How drunk are you?

Blaine: I’m not drunk; I’m just intoxicated by you.  
Blaine: I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to say. So I figured if I made you laugh, you might keep talking to me.  
Blaine: I hope this means you will still talk to me…

Kurt was laughing, quite hard in fact, he dropped his phone. He didn’t know what to say.

Kurt: You did make me laugh, I dropped my phone.

Blaine: Oops, sorry.

Kurt: Its ok. So, Blaine, you’re Sam’s friend…

Blaine: Yes, we work at the same school. I teach Kindergarten. What do you do?

Kurt: Oh, that’s cool! I’ve always admired teachers. I couldn’t do it. I’m not patient enough.  
Kurt: I’m a designer for Zac Posen’s shop and I occasionally write for vogue.com’s fashion blog. That’s where I got my start actually.

Blaine: Oh, wow. I always love to read the Vogue blog,  
Blaine: I don’t know much about fashion though. I just have a wide collection of ties and bowties that are themed for my classroom.

Kurt: Oh my god, Blaine. Really? Themed bowties?

Blaine: What? They’re cute! The kids love them.

Kurt: You can’t base your fashion sense off of what 5-year-olds like.

Kurt sat in his apartment shaking his head at his phone, smiling. He couldn’t believe Blaine, he truly made fashion decisions based on what children would like.

Blaine: Sure I can. They are the ones I have to impress every day!

Kurt: What if you had to impress me, what would you wear for that?

Kurt couldn't believe what he had typed, the second he said it he worried it was too much. Mercedes had mentioned that Blaine is sometimes shy, maybe the blatant flirting with him like that was too much. But it was too late now, Kurt couldn’t unsend the text message.

He waited what seemed like forever, but in reality was maybe a minute and a half for Blaine’s response.

Blaine: I would wear this emerald sweater from Brooks Brothers with my dark skinny jeans and maybe one of my more adult bowties. But for you, I would make sure I looked sexy. I have to compete with all those gorgeous models you work with every day.

Kurt blushed as he read the message. Blaine was cute, really cute. Kurt was seriously glad Mercedes and Sam convinced him to do this.

Kurt: Sounds very nice. I hope I can see it sometime.  
Kurt: So, I’ve only seen you in your Robin costume, send me a more normal picture?

Blaine: Only if you send me one of you.

Kurt: Alright, this is from last month at the Met Ball.  
Kurt has sent you a photo.

Blaine: Wow, you look amazing. Is that your own design you’re wearing?

Kurt: Yeah. It’s all mine, I hand sewed the entire tux.

Blaine: Kurt, that is amazing. I can’t believe it. Its stunning, you’re stunning.

Kurt found himself blushing again, which was the second time in the last five minutes. Blaine was seriously cute. 

Kurt: For the sake of honestly, I’m blushing here.  
Kurt: So where’s my picture?

Blaine has sent you a photo.  
Blaine: Fine, it’s not as good as yours, but…  
Blaine: It’s my school picture from this year, it's the most current picture I have.

Kurt: Oh, Blaine. You are so cute! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I love the little apples on your bowtie, it’s cute.

Blaine: SEE! They are cute! You said it!

Kurt: I did say THAT one was cute, I don’t know about the others.

Blaine: Okay.

Kurt wasn’t sure what to say next, he wanted to invite Blaine out on a date, meet in person. If he was a kindergarten teacher and worked with Sam, he couldn’t be a creeper. Plus he knew enough Aikido to survive. 

Kurt: So, I know I don’t really know you, but what would you say to grabbing a coffee with me sometime. Maybe next weekend? Or a weeknight if that is better for you?

Blaine: I… I don't know how to say this. But I am really shy, I can’t really talk to people I don’t know well, without being drunk (I am kinda really drunk right now (Mercedes says I am hammered)). I don’t think that’s the best idea.

Kurt: Okay, that’s fine. Can we keep texting though?

Blaine: Of course. I’d like to get to know you. You seem really interesting and fun.

Kurt: Well, I was told that I was the most interesting person in Ohio, but I don’t know that its saying much.

Blaine: You’re from Ohio? Me too! Where?

Kurt continued talking to Blaine much too late, discussing high school and how they were both in glee clubs, friends, and growing up as a gay man in Ohio. They found they had a lot in common. Finally when it was nearly 2am, Kurt texted Blaine:

Kurt: This has been an amazing, and unexpected evening. But I have yoga in the morning at 9:30, so it is unfortunately my bedtime. Goodnight, Blaine.

Blaine: It has been amazing. Can I text you tomorrow?  
Blaine: … well today?

Kurt: ☺ Yes of course. I’ll talk to you later.

Blaine: Goodnight, Kurt.

Kurt: Goodnight!

***  
October

Kurt and Blaine texted each other daily. About once a week Kurt would bring up meeting and going on a date in person, and Blaine would always shrug it off, sometimes suggesting texting-dates, where they would watch the same show from their DVR and text each other while watching it ‘together’ but in Kurt’s mind it wasn’t the same.

Mercedes and Sam kept bugging Blaine to just go out on a date with Kurt, what was the worst that could happen. Blaine always managed to find the worst possible scenario, with Kurt dead and his death was Blaine’s fault, even though the date rarely ever started and Blaine didn’t lay a finger on him. Sam pointed this out many times, but was just met with another scenario in which Blaine ended up in the hospital because Kurt was some type of modified robot set to murder the entire city when Blaine greeted him.

Sam eventually convinced Blaine to go on a date, in person, with Kurt by threatening to take one of his classroom decorations every day until he went on a date with him. Blaine tried to tell Sam that he couldn’t hurt the children’s futures by harming their educational experience. In the end Blaine did it for himself and “for the children”.

***  
Blaine walked into the restaurant they agreed upon twenty minutes early. He was ready for the date over an hour before they were supposed to meet. He spent a half hour grading and then re-grading his class’ handwriting worksheets, not because it needed to be done on a Friday night, but more for something to do to keep him distracted. It didn’t work, Blaine had checked his outfit in the bathroom mirror no less than ten times before finally forcing himself out of the apartment a half hour early; just incase it took more than the eight minutes Google projected the trip to take.

It didn’t.

So Blaine was twenty minutes early for his semi-blind date. He went inside and got a table, it was mostly secluded in the corner. The small candle on the table lit it up just enough to clearly see the two blooms in a small vase on the table; one yellow and one red rose. Blaine smiled as he ran his finger across the petals. 

The longer he sat at the table, the more nervous he got. Each passing minute was an eternity. Blaine checked his phone for the time, each time sure that he had been waiting an hour for Kurt to arrive, when actually it had been only a minute, and Kurt was not due to arrive for another 15 minutes. 

Blaine figured checking his email might help. For the first time ever, he hoped there would be an angry parent emailing him about their child, so he could at least spend the next ten minutes carefully crafting a response. Sadly, or maybe in reality, gratefully, there was no such email. He checked to see if either Cooper or Sam had played on Words with Friends, and of course they didn’t. Blaine spent a couple of minutes scrolling through Facebook to see if anything interesting was happening, of course there wasn’t. 

Blaine’s nerves were getting the best of him. He shifted back in his seat, tempted to get up and run. Stand Kurt up on the date they had been planning for over a week. If he left now, no one would ever know he was there waiting for Kurt. He could just slip away and never talk to him again. Except that wasn’t exactly true. The hostess would probably tell Kurt, who would tell Mercedes. Then Mercedes would of course tell her husband, Sam, if not just call Blaine herself. Then Sam would corner him Monday morning in the teacher’s lounge and not let Blaine have his coffee until he fessed up. Or, he could text Kurt and say that something came up. His grandmother was in the hospital? That would work, except for Sam and Mercedes would know it was a lie. Damn, why did he let his best friend set him up with his wife’s best friend?

Blaine looked down at the table and was studying the grain of the wood when he heard a throat clearing above him, without looking up Blaine said barely above a whisper, “I’m not ready to order yet; I’m waiting for someone.”

“Well, good then.” Blaine’s head snapped up at the sound of a man’s voice, Kurt’s voice, “I’m meeting someone here.”

“K-K-Kurt,” Blaine stammered, clearing his throat and smiling at Kurt.

Kurt smiled at him, “May I sit down?”

Blaine nodded not meeting Kurt’s eyes. Kurt sat across from Blaine, slinging his coat over the chair next to him. “So, hi! This is a nice place. Have you been here before?”

Blaine opened his mouth to say something before smiling and shaking his head.

Kurt grinned at him, but Blaine didn’t see it. “So Blaine, tell me about yourself.”

Blaine frowned slightly, chewing on his lip thoughtfully. Kurt’s smile dimmed slightly, but before he could get too concerned, the waitress appeared to take their order. Kurt ordered a glass of Chardonnay and Blaine simply said, with his thousand-watt smile, “Same.”

Blaine looked at Kurt, god he was attractive, and smiled shyly before lowering his gaze to the flowers again. 

Kurt reached out his hand, stopping before he touched Blaine’s hand, which was plastered flat on the table, knuckles turning white with the effort. Kurt was concerned, line of worry etching on his face. He started gently, “Blaine?”

Blaine looked up at Kurt, shook his head and stood up, pointing to the bathroom before hurrying away.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Blaine regretted his decision. He leaned his head back against the wall, taking a deep breath. He can’t do this. There is no way he can sit there and talk to Kurt, beautiful and witty Kurt. He made up his mind, pulling his phone out of his pocket and tapping out a quick text.

Blaine: I can’t do this, I’m sorry.

Blaine stood in the bathroom for what feels like an eternity, not sure how he was going to get out of the restaurant. There isn’t an exit near the bathroom, and he left his coat at the table. Of course it is an abnormally cold October, and he needs his coat. Damn it, Blaine. Why didn’t you think this through. He’s almost convinced himself to just leave and get a new coat this weekend when his phone buzzes in his hand.

Kurt: Can’t do what, exactly? Are you ok? Do you need me to call someone? What can I do?

Blaine smiles a little bit. Kurt’s worried about him, Kurt thinks he might be injured or something. Before fully thinking it through, Blaine types out a response.

Blaine: Remember how I told you I was shy. I can’t talk to you, I’m too nervous.

Kurt’s response is almost immediate.

Kurt: What can I do to make it easier? I like you Blaine, I want to get to know you.

Blaine: I don’t know. I’m sorry. I should have never agreed to go on a date with you. I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk.

Kurt: But, you’re talking to me right now.

Blaine looks at his phone considering his response when another message from Kurt pops up.

Kurt: How are you today?

Blaine: I’m good. But this isn’t the same.

Kurt: Oh, good. The kids weren’t too crazy today? It is a Friday after all. This is perfect. ;)

Blaine: Well, today was PJ day, so they were excited about that. And we spent the whole day curled up with our stuffed animals and cuddled under blankets while reading and doing math.

Kurt: Did you have a stuffed animal with you?

Blaine: Sadly, no. But one of the girls let me borrow one of hers for the day. I had a stuffed unicorn named Sally to keep me company all day.

Kurt: LOL. That sounds adorable.

Blaine: I’m in favor of any excuse to wear my bowtie PJs to work! ;)

Blaine realized that he might have just shared too much information, trying to backtrack quickly.

Blaine: Because they are really comfy…

Kurt: :) That sounds adorable.  
Kurt: So how about coming back to the table?

Blaine considered his phone for a minute. He wanted to go out and talk to Kurt. But he also knew that it most likely wouldn’t happen. Blaine splashed water on his face, some of the curls around his temples breaking free of the gel. He frowned and stuck them back down again.

Blaine: I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I don’t think I will be able to talk.

Kurt: What if we were to text, but while sitting at the same table?

Blaine smiled, that he can do. He told Kurt as much.

Blaine: I can do that.

Kurt: Good! :D

Blaine: I’m coming out.

Kurt: I thought you already did that. :P

Blaine gets back to the table before he sees Kurt’s message, shaking his head and laughing silently.

Blaine: Kurt! You did not just make a closet joke.

Kurt: I’m pretty sure I did.  
Kurt: So are you going to ask me how I am or not?

Blaine smiles again, chancing a glance up at a stoic-faced Kurt. But his eyes give him away, they sparkle with joy and jest. Blaine can do this.

Blaine: How are you today, Kurt?

Kurt: I’m fantastic. How are you, Blaine?

Blaine: I’m doing better now. ;)

Kurt looks up as soon as he gets the text message, “You’re not winking at me.”

Blaine smiles briefly, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Kurt is momentarily worried that he pushed too hard, but his worries are quickly squashed when Blaine shyly winks back. Kurt didn’t even know it was possible to shyly wink!

Just then, the waitress brought their drinks and asked if they were ready to order. Kurt covered for Blaine saying with a sparkling smile, “I think we still need a few more minutes. We’ve been distracted talking.”

She left them with a smile and a quick glance behind her as she walked over to her other tables. 

Blaine: Thank you.

Kurt: Of course. Maybe we should read the menu and then you can let me know what you would like?

Blaine read his message then put his phone down to read the menu. Kurt followed suit. Blaine texted him a few minutes later.

Blaine: I feel silly saying this, but can you order me the Salad Nicoise. 

Kurt: Don’t feel silly. I’m just happy that I can make it easier for you.  
Kurt: Can I ask you a question?

Blaine: … of course. You can ask me anything.

Kurt: Have you always been shy like this?  
Kurt: If you don’t want to answer, I understand. I don’t mean to pry.  
Kurt: I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked you that.

Blaine watches Kurt text, aware of how awkward this whole situation is, and acutely aware of how comfortable he feels with Kurt. He sees him typing and getting more and more frustrated with each word he types. Blaine grabs his phone as soon as it starts buzzing.

Blaine isn’t surprised by this question, he gets it a lot, he just usually avoids it completely by the nature of his shyness. But Blaine knows that he doesn’t want to lie to Kurt, because he has enjoyed the past month and would really like to keep Kurt around for a while.

While Blaine was typing his message, he is vaguely aware of Kurt ordering their dinner. Blaine is grateful for how nice Kurt is being.

Blaine: I guess so? Its hard to say. I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was a kid and then in high school I had a really hard time talking to people, so I just remained silent and got amazing grades. I did have one really good friend, who would always invite me out with his friends, but once they found out I was gay, they didn’t want me around anymore, so I had to hang out with Steve, my friend, apart from them.

Blaine read over the message three times before he sent it, refusing to look up at Kurt, who kept watching him, he could feel it. Blaine was afraid to look at the expression on his face while he was waiting for this message. It must be filled with concern and worry and maybe even distaste. Blaine finally hit send, and then looked up at Kurt. He was smiling sweetly, patience written on his face, sipping his wine.

Kurt picked up his phone when it buzzed on the table. Blaine was nervous about him reading this message, he was tempted to snatch the phone right out of his hands, but that really would be counterproductive. Instead, he just sat there sipping his wine and impatiently waiting for a response.

Sensing his discomfort, Kurt spoke instead of typing, “I’m so sorry that your friends shunned you when they found out you were gay. That is horrible.” Blaine looked up at Kurt, “But I am really glad that you have Sam now. I’ve known Mercedes since middle school and met Sam in high school. They are both amazing people”

Blaine picked up his phone, feeling the need to tell Kurt more, everything.

Blaine: After my freshman year in high school, I transferred to Dalton. There, despite being shy, I joined the Warblers. I did make some great friends there, some of whom are still friends of mine today. I have no idea how I sang lead for them for two years, but somehow I managed. :/

Kurt: That makes me happy. I’ve been thinking, I feel like we might have competed against the Warblers once or twice, maybe we were there at the same time?

Blaine: Maybe in a different universe we would have met in high school.

Kurt: Maybe. But I think I like this better.

Blaine looked confused as he read Kurt’s message. Kurt saw the confusion written on his face and added, “Because I wasn’t very nice back then, I was stuck up.”

Blaine: Oh, Kurt. I’m sure you were very nice.

Kurt: Well, it doesn’t matter because I’m here now.

Before Blaine could read the message the waitress brought their meals, Blaine’s salad and a grilled chicken breast for Kurt. She asked if they need pepper, both men shaking their heads and offered to bring them each another glass of wine. Kurt told her that would be wonderful.

“Thanks,” Blaine said.

Kurt smiled, “You’re welcome.”

Blaine ate some of his salad before picking up his phone. He starred at it for a moment before putting it down and taking a deep breath.

“How is your dinner? “ Blaine said in a rush of words.

Kurt looked at him for a minute before saying, “I think you asked me how my dinner was, but I’m not sure. That was the fastest I’ve ever heard anyone talk.”

Blaine looked down and blushed. He cleared his throat before trying again, much slower, “How is your dinner?”

“It’s delicious, thank you.” Kurt’s smile was genuine.

The waitress brought them each a second glass of wine. Blaine thanked her for them.

Kurt raised his glass up to cheers with Blaine and said, “Liquid courage?”

Blaine laughed, spilling some of his wine on the table, “Liquid courage.”

Kurt and Blaine continued to talk while they ate their dinner. Occasionally, when a question took more than a few words to answer, Blaine would pick up his phone and text Kurt the answer. But as he got more and more comfortable and had more of his wine, he was able to talk more and more. When the waitress dropped off the check, they did the ‘who’s paying dance’ fighting over the bill.

Blaine eventually won, by pretending there was someone famous behind Kurt, pointing and gasping. Kurt turned around and Blaine pulled the envelope from his hands and sat on it. 

“You are sneaky and a cheater, Blaine. That’s not fair.”

Blaine just shrugged, put his credit card in the envelope and handed it over to the waitress who was watching them with amusement.

Kurt huffed, “Fine. Well if you insist on paying, then I insist on making you dessert.”

Blaine’s face lit up, “Dessert?”

“I have the ingredients for nutella crepes at my place, if you’re interested.” Remembering one conversation they had about coffee, Kurt added, “I also have some excellent beans if you want some good coffee.”

Kurt didn't think it was possible, but Blaine lit up even more at the mention of coffee. “That sounds wonderful.”

After the bill was paid, they both pulled on their coats and went out into the chilly October evening. Kurt asked, “Do you want to walk or take the train?”

“How far is it?”

“Well, if we cut through the park, maybe 20 or 25 minutes.” Blaine nodded his assent and they set off.

They walked in semi-silence for a few blocks, Blaine mustering up the courage to take Kurt’s hand. It took him two and a half blocks, but eventually Blaine does grab Kurt’s hand, and Kurt immediately tangled their fingers together and squeezed his hand, smiling.

The walk is pleasant, despite the evening being on the cold side. 

Kurt was hesitant to break the companionable silence that had overtaken them since the restaurant by asking, “I can’t believe I’ve never asked this, but how long have you lived in New York?”

Blaine looked at him, smiling, “Um… six years? I moved here when I started college, and then have been teaching for two years, so yeah six years. You?”

“Seven. I couldn’t wait to get here, but now I find myself missing Ohio more and more.”

Blaine nodded, “Me too.”

“Well, maybe we can go back and visit sometime soon. Didn’t you say you were from north-west Ohio?”

It may be dark out, but Kurt can still see the way Blaine blanches at what he said. Kurt backtracked as quickly as he could, “I’m sorry, that was forward of me.” He laughed nervously, “It must be the wine talking, liquid courage.”

“No. It’s ok. It’s not that.”

“What is it?”

“It's a long story, but things are complicated with my parents. I would really like to go to Ohio with you sometime.”

Kurt squeezed his hand, “Sometime sounds good to me.”

***  
Kurt led the way up to his apartment, Blaine pausing beside him so he could open the door. Kurt let Blaine enter first. 

Blaine took in the apartment, small, but what apartment wasn’t small in New York? It was very modern, but still looked comfy and lived-in. He had a plush black sofa against one wall with a large print of the Brooklyn Bridge hanging over it. The pillows on the sofa matched the color purple-blue color of the clouds in the picture perfectly. The kitchen was all red with colorful accents. Blaine loved how put together it looked. It looked like it had been very carefully planned out and the items were collected over time with much care.

“So,” Kurt started awkwardly, “This is my apartment. Its small, but its home.”

“I love it. It’s gorgeous!” Blaine turned around to face Kurt, who had toed off his shoes and headed for the kitchen. Blaine followed suit. “How long have you lived here?”

Kurt turned and looked over his shoulder, “Um… three years? Something like that. When I first moved to the city I lived with my best friend, Rachel, and then about six months later, another friend from high school, Santana, moved in. And then both of their significant others moved in. I managed to last four years with the constant stream of changing roommates, but when I could afford it, I moved out on my own.”

Blaine nodded. “That sounds, awful.”

Kurt made a noise of assent, “Yeah, it wasn’t ideal, but it was much less expensive. Even if I had no privacy.”

“Oh, you didn’t have your own bedroom?”

“No, we just partitioned corners off with curtains.”

“How did you do that for four years?”

Kurt smirked at Blaine, “After living alone for three years, I have no idea.”

Blaine laughed. “There is no way I could do that.”

Kurt had pulled out all the ingredients and was measuring them into a bowl when he asked, “So am I wrong to assume you live alone?”

Blaine smiled, “No, you’re not wrong. I do live alone, I haven’t actually had a roommate since my first year in college, and it was torture then.”

Blaine was watching Kurt baking. Kurt asked, “Do you want to help?”

“Um… sure.” Blaine walked into the kitchen from where he had been standing leaning against’s Kurt’s dining table. “What do you need me to do?”

“Well, these are about ready to go in the pan. So can you fill them with nutella quickly after I flip them onto the plate?”

Blaine smiled, “Sure. I think I can handle that!”

They worked together, laughing when Kurt flipped the crepe and it slid right off the plate and onto the floor. Laughing again when Blaine’s entire hand ended up covered in nutella, then he tried to lick it off. In the end, there were four filled crepes, some of them looked a little nicer than others. Kurt plated them with sliced strawberries and dusted them with powdered sugar.

“Wow, these look amazing. Way better than what we could have gotten on the street.”

Kurt scoffed, “Do not tell me that you eat street crepes in New York!”

Blaine feigned affront, “I wouldn’t dream of it. Only in Paris.”

“I suppose its allowed in Paris. Have you been?”

“Yeah, once when I was in high school. My parents decided to take the family, they figured we needed a little more culture than Ohio could offer.”

“Wow, I’m jealous. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. Someday.” Kurt smiled, “Eat up, they’re getting cold, and cold crepe is just terrible.”

Blaine nodded, cutting into the dessert and moaning at the taste around his fork. “Oh, my god. These are amazing.”

Kurt chuckled, “Oh, I’m glad you like them.”

They each ate their crepes in silence. Blaine scraped his fork across the plate, picking up the dropped bits of melted Nutella and sugar. He contemplated licking the plate, but decided that it was inappropriate to do on a first date. But on a second date…

Kurt watched Blaine clean his plate with amusement, “You’ve got a little…”

Blaine looked up at Kurt, “What?”

Kurt laughed. Blaine’s mouth was covered in chocolate and powdered sugar. “You’ve got some Nutella on your…” Kurt pointed to one of the spots Blaine had chocolate. 

Blaine tried to wipe it off with his napkin but just ended up smearing it all across his face. Kurt laughed again, “Let me help you.”

Blaine was slightly uncomfortable, but nodded in agreement. Kurt tried to wipe it off with his napkin, but had little more success than Blaine did. Kurt gestured towards his hand, “May I?”

Blaine was even less comfortable, he almost stood up and went into the bathroom, but then he realized that he didn’t know where the bathroom was. He nodded again.

Kurt used his thumb to gently brush the chocolate off Blaine’s face. The first two times he wiped his thumb off on his napkin, but on the final time, he offered his thumb to Blaine to lick it clean. Blaine accepted the finger, sucking the chocolate off gently. Kurt pulled his finger out of Blaine’s mouth when he could tell it was clean. He leaned in close to Blaine’s face, pausing briefly before closing the distance to Blaine’s mouth. The kiss was sweet and chaste, but absolutely perfect.

Blaine pulled back before Kurt did, looking down at the table and blushing slightly. 

Kurt asked, “Was that okay?”

Blaine smiled at the table, “Yeah.”

Kurt lifted Blaine’s chin with his finger, “Then I guess this would also be okay…”

He pressed their lips together again, going for a deeper kiss; mouths moving together delightfully. Kurt could taste the sugar sweet left on his lips. Kurt tried to deepen the kiss, licking Blaine’s lips slightly. Blaine pulled back when he felt Kurt’s tongue against his lips. Kurt was about to say something, but before he could, Blaine closed the distance between their lips again putting his hand on Kurt’s cheek and holding him close.

They kissed leisurely for a long while; until it started to get uncomfortable sitting at the table in two awkwardly placed perpendicular chairs. Kurt was the one who broke the kiss and breathed, “Should we take this to the couch?”

Blaine looked a little shocked by Kurt’s suggestion. He was sure he sat there for five minutes with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face and his mouth hanging open like a fish. He also wondered where all the forest analogies came from… He knew it couldn’t be too long that he sat there, because Kurt didn’t say anything to him.

Blaine leaned in to place a quick kiss on Kurt’s lips. “I don’t think that’s the best idea tonight.”

Kurt looked a little disappointed, but didn’t say anything about it, “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s been a long day…” As if on cue, Kurt yawned so wide his jaw popped. “Okay, I’m tired, too.”

Blaine tried to resist the contagiousness of Kurt’s yawn, but soon he was yawning too. “Darn you, you yawned. Now I can’t stop.”

Kurt yawned again, “It’s your fault, you’re the one who started talking about them!”

Blaine bit back a yawn, “Okay, we’re done talking about that now!”

“Agreed.”

“But I really should go.” Blaine made to stand up and bring his dishes into the sink. “Tonight has been wonderful, more than wonderful, splendid. Thank you, Kurt.”

A grin spread across Kurt’s face, “Splendid. I couldn’t have said it better myself. That is such a teacher word though.”

“Oh, whatever,” Blaine stuck his tongue out at Kurt.

“See! You even act like your students. So childish.” Kurt teased.

“Well, you haven’t seen me throw a temper tantrum because I can’t play with my favorite toy and didn’t feel like napping. Just you wait.” Blaine said before realizing what he actually said. What he implied with that sentence, he tried, unsuccessfully, to cover it, “I mean…”

Kurt laughed, walking over to where Blaine was standing in the sink, looking like he was going to try to wash the plate. “I can’t imagine you being the one to throw a temper tantrum.” Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine from behind, holding his hands and preventing him from washing the plate, “I have a feeling that you were the kid instructing all the others on how to share and spending as much time as possible with the teachers.”

Blaine turned around in Kurt’s arms, “You caught me.” He leaned forward to press another kiss to Kurt’s lips.

Blaine eventually untangled himself from Kurt and made his way back to the door where his coat and shoes were. He put them back on before turning to Kurt and saying, “I had a really great time tonight.”

“Me too.”

“I… uh….” Blaine stammered, he wasn’t sure why he was suddenly nervous; he had just been kissing this gorgeous man for the last half hour. But he couldn’t get the words out.

“Do you want to do this again sometime? Say early next week? Tuesday or Wednesday?” Kurt supplied, not wanting to talk for Blaine, but it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to say it anytime soon, and Kurt really didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to go out with Blaine again, and especially didn’t want to miss out on kissing him again.

Blaine sighed, “Yes. You took the words right out of my mouth. Yes, I would really like that.”

“Ok.” Kurt leaned in for another kiss, “I’ll text you the when and where, assuming you’re free both nights.”

“Yep, I’m free.”

“Great. Then I’ll text you. And I’ll see you soon.”

Blaine leaned in for one last kiss, keeping in brief before turning and hurrying out the door and down to the street. It wasn’t until he was in front of Kurt’s building, looking back up at what he thought must be Kurt’s apartment that he realized how much fun he really had, and wondered why he was in such a hurry to leave. But they would see each other again soon, very soon if Blaine could help it!

***  
Blaine spent the rest of the weekend mostly at home, but constantly texting Kurt. He was going to try to wait until morning to text him after their date, but on his way to the subway, he saw the cutest squirrels play-fighting on the sidewalk. He took a video and then before he even thought about what he was doing, sent it to Kurt.

Kurt responded almost immediately.

Kurt: Wow, that’s adorable. Just like you. ;)  
Kurt: I had an amazing time tonight. I’ll see you soon. :*

Blaine blinked at his phone, surprised that Kurt messaged him so soon. 

Blaine: I did too. See you soon, let me know when and where! ☺ :*

Blaine managed to avoid Sam all weekend, despite the fact that he kept hassling him, texting asking for graphic details about the date, like “So if you’re not too busy soiling Kurt’s sheets, text me how it went. ;)” and “Geez, Blaine. I always figured you were a tiger in bed, but you can’t have been going at it for 48 hours!” That last one came in Sunday night and Blaine just shook his head, dreading the conversation that was going to be unavoidable in the morning.

Blaine purposefully arrived early, Starbucks coffee in hand, otherwise he was not going to be able to keep up with the energy of 25 Kindergarteners all day. He was half expecting Sam to be there, waiting for him outside his classroom door, but the rational part of him knew Sam wouldn’t be in the school for at least another half hour, especially on a Monday.

Blaine quickly set up his room with everything he needed for the morning and then sat down to check his email, he found a couple from concerned parents and a request for some ‘vacation homework’, which made Blaine very grateful that he planned well in advance of each lesson. He was in the middle of replying when an instant message dinged.

SEvans: YOU HAVE BEEN IGNORING ME ALL WEEKEND.

BAnderson: Good morning, Sam. How was your weekend?

SEvans: Don’t play dumb Blaine Devon Anderson. I want all the details. The juicier the better!

Blaine sighed, looking at the clock and seeing that he still had a half hour before the early kids would be arriving and forty-five before school started. He could pretend that he had things to prep, but that would just mean putting off the unavoidable until the crowded lunch room, and the potential of Sue overhearing the conversation. Blaine cringed at the thought. Now was as good of a time as any.

BAnderson: Oh, you mean you want to hear about my date with Kurt?

SEvans: So help me god, if you don’t start telling me right now, I will march down there and force you to tell me in person.

BAnderson: No need to get violent there, Sam. It went well. Really well. We met up at a small café Kurt suggested, we talked and ate and drank. Then Kurt suggested we go back to his place and eat dessert then I went home.

SEvans: When you say you talked, do you mean you sat there and listened to him talk?

BAnderson: No… I was eventually able to talk to him. I had wine.

SEvans: And Kurt just sat there and stared at you until you got drunk? I know you, Mr. Anderson. You hardly talk to me unless you’re drunk and I’m your best friend. 

BAnderson: SIGH. Fine, he got there and I ran away into the bathroom, Kurt said that we could just text rather than talk, and then from there it got easier, even without getting drunk. 

BAnderson: WHICH I DID NOT DO, BY THE WAY!

SEvans: No way. You didn’t. You did not text Kurt thought out your date.

BAnderson: I did. It was his idea.

SEvans: I know you can’t see it, but I’m shaking my head at you right now. I can’t believe you didn’t man up and just talk to him.

BAnderson: Me being shy has nothing to do with ‘not manning up’. Besides its not fair for you to criticize my relationship. Just because it isn’t how you would to it doesn’t mean it isn’t right for us.

SEvans: Um… Blaine?

BAnderson: What, Sam?

SEvans: You just said relationship. You and Kurt’s relationship. 

BAndersion: Huh, yeah. I did.

SEvans: Is there something you want to tell me about that?

BAnderson: I don’t know, I guess, I just want this to go somewhere. I like him a lot. I think we work well together, he makes me want to try to not be as shy. Its like he makes me want to come out of my shell and be adventurous with him.

SEvans: Wow, I’ve never heard you talk that way. That’s great. I’m happy for you. I’m sure Mercedes is too.

BAnderson: So how long do you figure until she works the details out of Kurt?

SEvans: Knowing the two of them? He told her before she even asked. If what you just said is anything to go off of. 

BAnderson: Oh, god.

SEvans: No, this is good. Very good. You two are good together.

BAnderson: Thanks.

SEvans: So I am going to ask because I know my girl will ask me to ask you tonight, what do you say to having a little double date, say Saturday night?

BAnderson: I don’t know that that’s the best idea. I mean we just went on one date. I don’t want to make this into something bigger than it really is.

SEvans: I get that. But remember that Kurt is Mercedes’ best friend and I’m yours. So it really isn’t like a double date, but more like hanging out with friends, who also happen to be dating.

BAnderson: I feel like that somehow makes it worse. Like the expectations are so much higher.

SEvans: Well I can tell Mercedes that you said maybe then.

BAnderson: But I didn’t say maybe. 

SEvans: Close enough.

BAnderson: You are horrible.

SEvans: Maybe. But you like me anyway.

BAnderson: Go teach kids things. Like how to write correctly. You should be very glad I didn’t correct all your grammar mistakes in this conversation!

SEvans: HEY! It wasn’t that bad.

BAnderson: I’ll just leave you to think that. Have a fantastic morning.

Blaine quickly closed out of the chat window and shut down his email before Sam could respond. He didn’t feel like dealing with it, and it was way more fun to just let Sam ponder about his grammar mistakes, although he didn’t make many this morning, which was impressive.

At lunch, Blaine checked his phone and was delighted to see that Kurt had texted him, nothing important, just a little message to let Blaine know he was thinking about him. It made Blaine light up and glow, it was so exciting knowing that someone cared about you and wanted you to know about it.

Sam didn’t let up about the double date all week, and Blaine found out from Kurt that Mercedes had been trying to talk him into it as well. By Thursday both men were sick of hearing it and agreed to go on a double date with them, although they insisted that it not be at their house, but rather that they all go out for dinner in Manhattan. What Mercedes and Sam didn’t know is that Blaine and Kurt met up far earlier in the day and went to the MoMA together and had a delightful walking hand in hand and then holding hands over coffee and biscotti at a small café. The whole day was perfect, at the end of it, Kurt and Blaine decided that, despite only having been ‘dating’ for a month, they were each other’s boyfriend. Blaine thought it felt damn good to have a boyfriend and wanted to scream it from the top of the roof how amazing his boyfriend was. He restrained himself, barely.

***  
December

Nearly two months later, the week after Thanksgiving, Blaine was anxious to see Kurt. Since they had officially started dating, they would see each other every couple of days, and for sure at least once a weekend. But Kurt had gone home for Thanksgiving, and Blaine wasn’t able to swing it, because he had a lot to prepare for conferences the following week. Blaine spent the weekend at home, mostly alone, and found that by Monday morning he was really missing Kurt, who wasn’t supposed to be back in town for another day and a half. Blaine texted him while the kids were in gym class.

Blaine: Meet me at Brandy’s Piano Bar tomorrow night at 8pm?

Blaine quickly stuck his phone back in his bag, knowing that if it was out he was going to constantly be looking for excuses to check it, which he did not have time for today.

At the end of the day, when he was finally able to pull his phone out again, he saw that he had three messages from Kurt.

Kurt: Why, hello there Blaine. How are you doing today? I missed you this weekend.  
Kurt: Sure, I can be there. Do I get any more information?  
Kurt: FINE. Since you’re being so silent about this, I’ll just assume that it's a secret and I’ll just show up there and wait with bated breath until then.

Blaine quickly typed out a response.

Blaine: Excellent, see you tomorrow. :*

Blaine was excited and nervous about the next night, he got there entirely too early just to make sure that he had a piano to play, even though it was a Tuesday night and it wasn’t that likely to be crowded. Of course when he got there, two girls were dueling on the pianos, they were not very good, ok they were terrible Blaine thought, but waited patiently until they finished and even clapped at the end of each song.

Once it was finally Blaine’s turn, he took the stage and got comfortable behind the piano. He scanned the room to see if Kurt slipped in and grabbed a table while he wasn’t looking, but no such luck, he still wasn’t there. Although it was just quarter to eight, so Kurt wasn’t yet late. Blaine started playing some of his favorites; some rearranged top 40 hits, Beyoncé, Usher, Katy Perry, and even Mackelmore and Robin Thicke. By the time he looked up again after playing all these songs, he noticed that Kurt was sitting at the table he had abandoned, smiling at him.

***  
When Kurt arrived at Brandy’s Piano Bar, he was surprised to see Blaine sitting at the piano playing a slowed down version of what appeared to be “Blurred Lines”. Kurt was shocked to hear it this way, it went from a poppy dance song to a slightly inappropriate love ballad. Kurt knew Blaine liked to play the piano, but he had never heard him play other than a few notes. He was expecting that Blaine was someone who dabbled but didn’t really play. He was not expecting someone who could play as well as any classically trained pianist he’d ever heard. Kurt was constantly blown away by Blaine, how kind and gentle he was, and yet still fun and exciting to be around. He made even the most mundane activities, like laundry, seem fun. The way he would laugh and joke with Kurt, it was so completely alien from the shy man he first met almost three and a half months ago. Kurt thought it was amazing how open Blaine was once he got to know someone, which Kurt supposed made sense, but it was still astounding to see just how much Blaine did trust him. It filled Kurt with pride and happiness and something else, which he was reluctant to call love, but in if he were being totally honest with himself, was most likely love.

Kurt watched as Blaine glanced around the room, obviously looking for him, Kurt smiled and lifted his hand slightly in a wave. When Blaine met his eyes, he smiled and then ducked his head shyly for a moment. He switched songs without pausing, effortlessly switching keys to fit the new song. Kurt didn't recognize it at first, but once Blaine started singing, he knew exactly what it was.

***  
Blaine debated introducing the song, but figured Kurt would know the song as soon as he started singing, Blaine was also pretty sure that his voice wouldn’t work if he tried to say anything. Blaine was nervous, more nervous than he had ever been singing for the Warblers or even for his juries in college. But in a way more was riding on this, it wasn’t his career or anything, but it was his heart and his emotions. And at this point if Kurt broke them, Blaine wasn’t sure how he’d continue. Not that he wouldn’t get out of bed and continue to teach, but that he wasn’t sure at this point that if Kurt left him he would ever date again. Kurt was it for him, and Blaine only hoped this song would express even of a fraction of the feeling Blaine felt for Kurt. 

Blaine was so nervous, he played the introduction twice, the second time not thinking on anything, just letting his mind to blank and his fingers do all the work. By the time he reached the first verse, he was singing confidently.

_What would I do without your smart mouth_  
Drawing me in, and you kicking me out  
Got my head spinning, no kidding, I can’t pin you down  
What’s going on in that beautiful mind  
I’m your magical mystery ride  
And I’m so dizzy, don’t know what hit me, but I’ll be alright 

_My head’s under water_  
But I’m breathing fine  
You’re crazy and I’m out of my mind 

_‘Cause all of me_  
Loves all of you  
Love your curves and all your edges  
All your perfect imperfections  
Give your all to me  
I’ll give my all to you  
You’re my end and my beginning  
Even when I lose I’m winning  
‘Cause I give you all, all of me  
And you give me all, all of you 

Blaine played the song and when he was done he thanked the audience so quietly, it was hard to believe that the same man who had been singing and very animatedly playing the piano was so meek and shy when he was talking. The dissociation of the two Blaines, which seemingly existed in harmony, was jarring to Kurt. Even though they had been dating for some time and Kurt had seen Blaine open up more and more, he was never what Kurt would describe as ‘outgoing’ or ‘a people person’ he was still shy, kind, loving Blaine. The performer-Blaine was like someone else entirely.

Blaine made a pit stop at the bar to get himself a drink and refill Kurt’s drink before heading over to meet him. He did it under the guise of being a good boyfriend, but really he needed a few minutes to compose himself before going over and facing Kurt’s reaction, good or bad.

Blaine walked over to the table carrying a seven and seven for himself, a departure from his usual wine or beer for something stronger, and Kurt’s usual rum and diet. Blaine set the drinks down and Kurt jumped up to throw his arms around his neck. Kurt pulled Blaine close, holding him tight and whispering in his ear, “You are amazing.”

Blaine blushed; he could feel the tips of his ears warm and prickly. He squeezed Kurt back and then turned out of his arms to sip down a third of his drink. Blaine sat down and Kurt followed, scooting his chair closer before sitting down and sipping his own drink.

Blaine was not sure what to say, he just sung his heart out for the man he was in love with and now he needed to say something, do something. Blaine fumbled around in his pocket for a minute before he pulled out his key ring.

“Blaine?” Kurt asked worried. “What are you doing?”

“Um… Kurt?” Blaine started, stopping before he could say any more.

“What is it? Are you sick? Do you need me to walk you home?” Kurt sounded very concerned.

Blaine was confused, “What? No. Why do you ask?”

“You just looked like you were going to be sick then started fumbling with your keys.”

“Oh, I’m fine, just a little nervous.”

Kurt smiled knowingly, “Oh, Blaine. Don’t be nervous, it’s just me.”

Blaine smiled back, but somewhat shyly. “I know, but I just…” Blaine trailed off. Kurt took his hand and held it gently, Blaine continued, “I wanted to give you something.”

Kurt’s curiosity was piqued, “What is it?”

“Well, we’ve been dating for quite a while and sometimes it’s silly that you have to wait for me in the coffee shop down the block, so I wanted to give you a key to my apartment.” Blaine fumbled with his key ring getting the spare key off for Kurt. He gently turned Kurt’s hand over and placed the key in his palm, closing his fingers around the key.

“Oh, wow. Blaine! Thank you. I… I am so honored to get a key to your apartment. Thank you!”

Blaine’s smile turned into a splitting grin. “You said that already. You’re welcome. I want you to have them.”

Kurt rushed to put the key on his own ring. “Well, now I want to give you this.” 

Kurt struggled to simultaneously put Blaine’s key on his ring while pulling his own off. Blaine laughed when he realized what Kurt was doing. He blushed slightly, excited to have a key for Kurt’s place nestled next to his own. It felt like a big step, it was a big step. But it also felt like the right step.

After struggling with his key ring for nearly five minutes, Kurt triumphantly held the key above his head before ceremoniously placing it in Blaine’s hand with both of his hands. Blaine smiled wide when the small metal key was in his hand. 

They stayed in the bar; chatting for one more drink each before Kurt suggested going back to his place for a while. Blaine tried to refuse, despite wanting more than anything to go over to Kurt’s. It didn’t take much effort on Kurt’s part to convince Blaine, and they made the short walk back to Kurt’s apartment hand in hand. When they reached Kurt’s front door, he pulled out his keys and stared at them blankly.

“What is it?” Blaine asked.

Kurt started laughing, which startled Blaine and he jumped back slightly. Kurt was laughing very hard and was gesturing to his keys, but Blaine couldn’t decipher what he was trying to say. Eventually Kurt’s laughter subsided enough for him to squeak out, “Keys.”

Blaine pulled his own key ring out of his pocket and gave it to Kurt. Kurt took the keys and fumbled for a minute to find the right one. When Blaine realized that Kurt didn’t have a key to open his apartment, because he had given his to Blaine; Blaine laughed too. Kurt was shaking with laughter and couldn’t stick the key into the lock. Blaine took a deep breath before taking the keys back from Kurt and letting them into the apartment. Blaine closed the door and locked it behind them, and when he turned around, Kurt was still chuckling and smiling at him.

“You just let me into my own apartment.” He said

“That I did.”

“No, but you let _me_ into _my_ apartment. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”

“Not traditionally, but since when have we done things the traditional way?” Blaine said a smile in his voice.

Kurt stepped into Blaine’s personal space, “The traditional way is overrated in my opinion.”

“Mmmm. Agreed.” Blaine smiled as Kurt moved forward and pressed a kiss to his lips.

Kurt moved into Blaine’s personal space, crowding him into the door. As soon as Blaine’s back was resting against the door, Kurt’s hands moved up under his coat to rest at the warm spot at the small of Blaine’s back. Kurt’s fingers worked the shirt out from Blaine’s pants and then were resting against skin.

Blaine hissed, breaking the kiss. “Your hands are cold.”

Kurt shrugged and kissed him again, pulling back he said, “You’re warm.”

Blaine tried to wiggle out from where he was stuck between Kurt and the door, “Not for long. You are going to turn me into an icicle.”

“Mmmmm.” Kurt said between kisses. He started to kiss a trail down Blaine’s neck, hitting all the spots that made Blaine arch his neck and beg for more. “I think I can think of a way to warm up quickly.”

Blaine arched into Kurt’s kisses. “Oooooooooooh?” He moaned out the word, “What’s that?”

“We both go into my bedroom.” Kurt kissed Blaine for emphasis, hard on the mouth.

“Yeah?” Blaine tried to switch positions with Kurt, but he was just pushed into the door all the harder.

“Then we take off all our clothes and huddle together under the blankets.” Kurt proved his point by moving his icy hands further up Blaine’s back and holding him close. Blaine hissed at the cold fingers on his back.

“How is having fewer layers on going to help us warm up?”

“Didn’t you ever learn about hypothermia? One of the things you are supposed to do to counteract it is to get naked with the other person and hold them close so your body heat has a chance to warm them up,” Kurt said into Blaine’s neck causing Blaine to shiver.

Blaine pulled himself as far from Kurt as possible, which in the moment wasn’t very far at all. “I’m pretty sure that’s just for when someone is wet, like after having fallen in frozen water, not when you are chilly after being outside.”

Kurt looked Blaine in the eye seriously, “But the same principal applies.”

Blaine laughed and used the opportunity to maneuver out of Kurt’s grasp. As soon as he was standing on the other side of Kurt, Kurt pulled his spare key out of the drawer under where he kept his key bowl. Kurt rummaged around in the small drawer for a minute before pulling out a ring of keys.

Blaine smiled and asked, “Are those all to your apartment?”

Kurt laughed, “No, these are all the spare keys I have, the ones friends have given me over the years.”

“Do you have them labeled in some way?” The answer to Blaine’s question was obvious when Kurt opened the door again and began to try each one in his door. “I’ll take that as a no. Do you even know who all they are from anymore?”

Kurt poked his head back around the door to say, “I have no idea. I know that I have Rachel’s spare key on here and Mercedes’ too. Beyond that I have no idea. Probably an extra set of work keys, maybe some from people in college.” Blaine could hear Kurt struggling with the keys, trying one after another until finally, “Yes! Success!”

“Did you find one for your apartment?”

“Not only did I find one for my apartment, I found three. I knew my landlord had given me a ridiculous number of keys when I moved in, but then I could never find them again.”

“Oh, good.” Blaine watched as Kurt pulled one of the keys off the ring and placed it in Blaine’s hand.

“Uh… Kurt, I already have one for your apartment.”

Kurt looked up, “I know, silly. I just need you to hold it while I get my key ring.”

Blaine smiled and held it dutifully, handing the key back to Kurt when he was ready for it.

“There, all set. Now where were we?”

Blaine pulled Kurt’s hand moving them towards the living room instead of his bedroom. “You were saying something about warming each other up.”

Kurt smiled, “Oh yes.”

Blaine pulled Kurt down on the couch to sit next to him before leaning in and kissing him soundly. This kiss was more forceful and almost dominant than most of Blaine’s kisses had ever been and Kurt moaned into the kiss. Blaine deepened the kiss pushing on Kurt’s torso to get him to lie down on the couch.

Kurt’s hands wandered all over Blaine’s back and sides until he worked up to pulling his sweater off over his shirt. Kurt then pushed Blaine backwards until he was sitting up straddling him, so he could pull off his own vest and shirt. As his shirt was off, Kurt slowly unbuttoned Blaine’s shirt, kissing the skin as it was revealed. Blaine moaned and helped Kurt tug it off once it was unbuttoned. The next second, Blaine was back on Kurt, kissing him hard and both of their hands were wandering all over smooth backs and sides.

Blaine moved to kiss down Kurt’s neck and suck lightly just above his collarbone. Kurt moaned and moved his hands lower and lower down Blaine’s back. Kurt’s hands slipped below Blaine’s belt.

Blaine froze. Kurt picked up on it pretty quickly, asking without moving his hands, “What’s wrong, Blaine?”

Blaine reached around behind him and gently removed Kurt’s hands from his pants. Blaine sat up again and moved himself to the other end of the couch, moving Kurt’s legs slightly so he wasn’t sitting on them. Kurt sat up too, looking worried and concerned.

“What’s going on?” Kurt asked, worried that he’d crossed a line he didn’t know existed.

“Nothing, I’m fine. I think it’s time to go home though.” Blaine said in a rush, looking for his shirt on the floor, but giving up when he realized his shirt was up by Kurt’ s side and there was no inconspicuous way of getting it.

“Please, Blaine. Talk to me. If I crossed a line, I’m so very sorry, I thought you wanted this as much as I did. But please talk to me. Please.” Kurt was close to pleading with him. 

“No, it’s not that. It…” Blaine trailed off.

Kurt didn’t want to pressure Blaine, but he had to ask, “Is it because you’ve never had sex before?”

Blaine was surprised by Kurt’s sentence, “No, it’s not that. I’ve had sex with my exes…”

“Then please tell me what it is. If you leave now without telling me, I’m going to be afraid I did something wrong all night.” 

“It’s not you. It’s just…” Blaine took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts, “I just don’t want the first time I have sex with you to be after we’ve had quite a bit to drink. I want to remember it. I want it to be special. I love you, Kurt. I want it to be special.”

“Oh, Blaine.” Kurt gasped, “I love you, too.”

It took Blaine a second to realize both what he had said and what Kurt had said back. Blaine blushed and Kurt surged forward to capture his lips in another kiss. Blaine blurted out when they parted, “I love you so much.”

Kurt kissed him again, “I love _you_.” Kurt rubbed his hands down Blaine’s arms and said, “I get it; I do. And I am completely fine with waiting.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you. I just…” Blaine took a deep breath, seeming to steel himself for what he needed to say, “I rushed into sex and such with my previous boyfriends, and there were times they made me feel used or like they only wanted me for sex, which turned out to be true with my most recent ex.”

Kurt moved his hand down to take Blaine’s in his own, “I’m so sorry that happened to you. But I can promise I will never just want you for sex. I love you, all of you.” 

“I love you, too.” Was Blaine’s immediate response, “Thank you for understanding.”

“Of course.” Kurt awkwardly fiddled with Blaine’s fingers in his hand, “So, now what?”

“Well,” Blaine started, suddenly confident, “I am going to kiss you good and hard so that you feel it all the way down to your toes. Then I am going to get dressed and go home, leaving you wanting more.”

Kurt scoffed and smacked Blaine across the bicep, “You are a tease, Blaine Anderson.”

Blaine kissed Kurt, “And you love it, Kurt Hummel.”

Kurt could only agree, “I do love it.”

Blaine kept his promise. He kissed Kurt until he felt it everywhere at once then promptly left him with a sweet kiss goodnight.

As Kurt shut the door behind Blaine, he shook his head, marveling at the shy and yet somehow bold and wonderful man that he got to call his own. The man he was in love with. 

***  
February

Kurt asked Blaine to watch his apartment while he was gone for a few days over Christmas, but because of a snowstorm, Kurt ended up stranded in Ohio over New Year’s and had to cancel their plans. Blaine had been intending on having a home-cooked dinner for Kurt and then finally taking him to bed. Which sounded old-fashioned even in his own head, but he knew that Kurt would love the sentiment. But with the weather delay, Kurt didn’t get back until the day before school started again and then Blaine was busy with school and Kurt had very little time to finalize his designs and make samples before his designs were scheduled to be photographed for the spring issue of Marie Claire.

Before Blaine knew it, it was verging on February and Valentine’s Day was quickly approaching. He decided, despite how ridiculously cheesy it was, he was going to reschedule his romantic night for Valentine’s Day.

The Monday before Valentine’s Day Friday, Blaine texted Kurt.

Blaine: I know you didn’t really want to do anything for V-day this week, how about coming over to my place and I’ll make dinner.

Kurt: Uh… yeah. That sounds good. Can we just relax and not do anything special? Its only three-hours into the shoot and I know it is going to be a long week. Very long.

Blaine: Yeah. That’s what I was thinking. I’ll make something tasty and pick up dessert!

Kurt: That sounds amazing. Is it Friday yet?

Blaine: Oh, I’m sorry. I’m going to send all the positive vibes your way and hope it gets better. Your designs are flawless, so I know they are just going to love them.

Kurt: I hope you’re right.

Blaine; You should know by now I’m always right. :P

Kurt: Yeah, yeah. I gotta go back in. Have a good day, see you Friday. I love you.

Blaine: Love you too!

Blaine spent the rest of the week scouring all the cookbooks he had and then once he had rejected every single recipe, he took over Mercedes’ collection and concluded that none of those would be good enough either. Eventually, Blaine decided to do something simple that he knew he could make successfully, Beef and Pepper Kebabs with his mother’s secret Middle Eastern marinade. He knew Kurt would enjoy it because it was simple but packed a punch of flavor. It was also something he could prepare before school in the morning to make the meat extra tender and delicious.

That day at school, Blaine and Sam had agreed to dress up as Valentines super heroes and run the assembly. They had spent two weeks modifying their costumes adding lots of pink heart accents and building a foam heart-arrow to shoot at the kids without injuring them. In the end, all of the kids, and even a few of the staff got sucked in to the Valentine’s Day fever Blaine and Sam had created and enjoyed themselves during the assembly.

After school, Blaine rushed home to clean everything up and get ready for his date with Kurt. He spent almost an hour tidying up and then re-tidying everything until it was just right. He put the kebabs on the grill and set about getting his other sides ready (a rice pilaf and a tossed salad) so that they were all just about finished when Kurt was set to arrive.

Kurt texted him about 5 minutes before he should have been there saying that he was very sorry that he was late, but he was on his way and would be there in 30min. Blaine turned everything down and covered it so it would stay warm until Kurt got there.

Blaine went back into his bedroom and rethought his outfit, he was wearing tight dark jeans with a black button down, a plum blazer, and a purple striped bowtie. Blaine flipped through his closet, trying to find a different outfit, something that was sexier, flipping through each of his bowties, deeming them all either not right for the occasion, too childish, or just plain didn’t go with his jacket. And Blaine had purchased the jacket the other day after discussing one similar to it in Vogue with Kurt. Kurt had gone on and on about how good it would look on him, so when Blaine saw something similar, he just had to get it.

Blaine was still fretting in the bedroom when Kurt arrived, letting himself in with his key. He called out, “Blaine? I’m here!”

“I’m in the bedroom!” 

Kurt shrugged off his coat and toed off his shoes heading towards the bedroom. He still had the flowers he picked up on his way in his hand. Before he could get to the bedroom, Blaine popped out and was stunned to see Kurt so close to him.

“Hi!” Blaine threw his arms around Kurt’s neck; Kurt cautiously moved the flowers out of the way so they wouldn’t get crushed. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Kurt!”

Kurt pressed a kiss to Blaine’s lips, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Blaine. I love you!”

“I love you too!”

Kurt maneuvered so that Blaine was not holding him in a crushing hug and gave him the flowers; a bouquet of brightly colored Gerber daisies. “I know how much you like them, and I thought they might brighten up your apartment or classroom.”

Blaine cocked his head to the side and said, “Thank you so much, they are beautiful!”

“You are more than welcome!” Blaine leaned in to kiss Kurt when his stomach grumbled and Blaine laughed, turned around to go put the flowers in water. “So what’s for dinner?”

“My, you’re hungry.”

“Shut up. You can only eat so much craft services before you just give up and wait for your adorable boyfriend to make you dinner.”

“Awww, you’re too cute.” Blaine turned around to smile at Kurt while he put the flowers in water. “You’ll see in just two minutes. Go sit down.”

Kurt looked back at the table and where Blaine was bringing the flowers for a centerpiece. “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?”

“If you insist, light the candles?”

“Sure.” Kurt lit the candles and sat down at the table just as Blaine was bringing the meal in. “It looks delicious!”

Blaine sat down across from Kurt and huffed slightly. The flowers were too tall and Blaine couldn’t see any of Kurt, except for the tips of his hair. Blaine said, “Uh, Kurt. Thank you for the flowers are truly beautiful but…”

Before he could finish, Kurt peeked his head out from beside the flowers and said, “…but they are too tall from the table and you’d like to be able to see me?”

Blaine looked down at his empty plate and nodded. “Yeah, that.”

“I agree.” Kurt stood up and moved the flowers to the kitchen countertop before sitting back down across from Blaine.

Kurt and Blaine ate their meal, chatting about Kurt’s photo shoot and Blaine got up to show Kurt some of the really cute homemade valentines his students had given him. After eating dinner, Kurt helped Blaine wash up the dishes, occasionally bumping hips and sending each other smoldering and flirtatious looks. Once the dishes were done, Blaine pulled the dessert out of the fridge, fruit and fresh whipped cream. When Blaine set the bowls on the counter and went to grab forks, Kurt laughed, hard.

Blaine turned around, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, you’re just cute. You have berries and whipped cream for dessert. It’s just very stereotypical and well, quite frankly, sexy.”

“Maybe that’s what I was going for…” Blaine gave Kurt the most flirtatious look he’d ever seen from Blaine before looking down and digging out a fork for the fruit and spoon for the whipped cream.

Kurt smiled and grabbed Blaine’s hands, stopping him from fiddling anymore. Kurt smiled huge and said, “You are too cute for words. Thank you for putting all this together for me. I love it. I love you.”

Blaine looked up, “I love you too.” Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt’s lips, which he quickly deepened.

“But may I make a suggestion?” Blaine looked instantly worried, Kurt kissed him again before saying, “Forget the forks.”

Blaine looked surprised, looking at the fruit and then back at Kurt, “But then…”

Kurt grinned devilishly, he picked up a piece of strawberry, dragging it across Blaine’s bottom lip, and when he poked his tongue out to taste the sweet fruit, Kurt pulled the berry back into his mouth. When he finished chewing he said, “We can feed each other.”

Blaine smiled, “Well, that’s not fair, you just fed yourself, not me.” Blaine plucked a raspberry out of the bowl and popped it into his mouth. He looked at the dining room, deciding it was too far away, he plopped down on the floor and Kurt followed suit, smiling at him.

Kurt reached down for another strawberry, dipping it in the whipped cream first, “Fine, how about this?” Kurt held the fruit up to Blaine’s lips, hovering until he opened his mouth a little bit, Kurt ran the whipped cream across Blaine’s lips, giving him white lipstick then pushing the berry into his mouth. Before Blaine could lick the whipped cream off his lips, Kurt was there licking it off then kissing him. 

They continued to feed each other the berries and other fruit in the bowl, eventually just taking fingers full of whipped cream and feeding them to each other. Blaine had a particularly large dollop of whipped cream on his finger, which Kurt sucked into his mouth and continued to suck on long after the whipped cream was gone. When Blaine tried to pull his finger out, Kurt grabbed his wrist and held it there, locking eyes with Blaine and giving his best seductive eyes.

Blaine gasped and closed his eyes, biting back a moan. When Kurt finally released his hand, he looked like the cat who got the cream. Blaine sat there stunned for a moment, before getting up and taking the two bowls back to the sink.

“What?” Kurt asked, worry creeping into his voice, that maybe he misread Blaine’s actions and pushed him further than he was ready. “Is everything ok?”

Blaine paused washing up the two bowls, smiling at Kurt, “Yeah. More than ok.”

Kurt just looked at his boyfriend completely bewildered by him, again. “Alright,” Kurt’s voice was still skeptical.

As he was drying his hands, Blaine turned around and said, “I was thinking that maybe we could relocate to my bedroom.”

Kurt couldn't stop the smile that crossed his lips as Blaine blushed. “Sounds perfect.”

Blaine grinned back at him, the adorable goofy grin that was so uniquely Blaine it made his heart swell. He threw the towel back behind him and grabbed Kurt’s hand and tugged him along to his bedroom.

It wasn’t that Kurt hadn’t been in Blaine’s bedroom before, because he had been through it many times to use the only bathroom in Blaine’s apartment. Hell, he had even been in it one weekend to care for Blaine when he had caught a particularly nasty flu from his students. What Kurt wasn’t expecting was the candles scattered around on the dressers and the single red rose laying on the pillow next to Blaine’s, Kurt’s pillow. 

Blaine stopped and looked at Kurt, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Kurt.”

“Thank you. You didn’t need to do this.”

“I know. I wanted to. I wanted our first time to be special; because you’re special to me Kurt. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. I love you.”

Kurt launched himself into Blaine’s arms, “I love you, too. I love you so much. But, Blaine, if you aren’t ready, or don’t want to…” Kurt trailed off, chewing on his lip, trying to find the right words, “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Blaine kissed him, gently, just a press of lips before he pulled back and said, “I know. I want to. I’ve wanted to for a long time.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.” Kurt’s hands slipped down Blaine’s side to rest over his hip bones.

Blaine moved his hands to cup Kurt’s ass, “I’m sure.” He squeezed his ass, eliciting a gasp from Kurt.

Kurt took one look at the vaguely smug look on Blaine’s face before kissing him, hard and desperate. Blaine took control of the kiss, twining his fingers in the hair at the base of Kurt’s head, holding him close and tilting his head slightly.

When Blaine finally pulled away, Kurt’s eyes were dazed and excited, he said, “Wow.” Blaine was kissing down his neck to his collar, “Wow.”

Blaine continued to kiss Kurt everywhere. He pulled back, fingers resting on Kurt’s tie, asking silently for permission to undo it. Kurt nodded. Blaine wasted no time in removing the tie, placing it on his dresser, Blaine slowly unbuttoned Kurt’s shirt and vest, stopping when they were both hanging off his shoulders. Blaine slid both the shirt and vest down Kurt’s arms until they were stuck on the cuffs at his wrists, shirt hanging off behind Kurt, essentially forcing Kurt to keep his hands behind him.

Blaine sunk down to his knees, kissing Kurt’s stomach through his undershirt. He traced his fingers lightly across Kurt’s stomach, causing him to shiver. When he reached Kurt’s belt, Blaine looked up, again asking for permission. Kurt nodded again, then Blaine was undoing his belt, sliding it out of all the loops then unbuttoning Kurt’s pants. Blaine slid his hands into the front of Kurt’s pants, reaching around back to cup Kurt’s ass and then used the back of his hands and forearms to push down Kurt’s pants. As soon as they hit the floor, Kurt stepped out of them. Blaine continued to kiss Kurt, placing kisses on his thighs and around the waistband of his boxer-briefs. Blaine could see Kurt getting hard, and beginning to form a wet spot in his underwear.

Kurt whined, “Blaine.”

Blaine looked up at him and stood up to kiss him on the mouth again.

Kurt whined again, “Blaine.”

Blaine kissed him again, “Mmmm, yeah?”

“My shirt.”

Blaine smiled, before he spun Kurt around to get at the cuffs of his shirt, unbuttoning them and pushing the shirt to the floor. Before Kurt could, Blaine bent over and picked Kurt’s clothes up off the floor and placed them neatly on the dresser. By the time he had turned back around, Kurt had taken off his undershirt and had his thumbs in the band of his briefs. He locked eyes with Blaine, and pushed them down slowly, the band dragging down and getting stuck slightly on his hardening cock.

Blaine’s eyes were blown, it was then that he realized that Kurt was completely naked in front of him and he was still standing there with a blazer on. Blaine made quick work of removing the blazer and throwing it at the dresser where Kurt’s clothes were.

Kurt stepped forward to help Blaine take off his clothes, Blaine simply shook his head and pushed Kurt back down on to the bed.

Kurt was surprised by how much Blaine had taken control of the evening, and he loved every second of it. Blaine was stripping for him, slowly unbuttoning his shirt, then trying to take it off before he untied his bowtie, getting him stuck in the shirt. Kurt smiled at him and leaned forward to help him out. Blaine smiled shyly. Kurt was again struck by the dichotomy that was Blaine, shy and seductive at the same time. Kurt was sure that Blaine would never stop surprising him as long as they were together, which he hoped was a long, long time.

Once Blaine’s shirt was off, Kurt sat back on the bed to watch. Blaine turned around and shook his ass as he undid his belt and slid the pants down over his ass. Kurt was shocked to see that Blaine wasn’t wearing underwear. Blaine had planned this, down to the last detail, and Kurt blushed to think about Blaine sitting all throughout dinner and dessert without underwear on, knowing that he was going to be stripping for Kurt. 

Once his pants were off, Blaine turned around and Kurt reached out to pull him to the bed, leaving the pants pooled on the floor. Kurt kissed him, hard. When he broke the kiss, Kurt whispered in Blaine’s ear, “God, you are so hot.” 

Blaine tucked his face into Kurt’s shoulder, blushing. Kurt pulled his head back up to look at him, “I want to fuck you so bad.”

Without consciously realizing it, Blaine ground his hips down into Kurt and moaned. “Oh, god, Kurt. Yes. Please.”

Kurt grinned smugly; he got Blaine to beg. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine’s back and rolled them over so he was on top.

Blaine adjusted his shoulders then winced. Blaine reached behind his head and pulled a partially crushed rose out from underneath his head.

“Oops. You ok?”

Blaine rubbed the back of his head where the thorn poked him. Kurt’s hand replaced his, gently feeling his scalp for an injury. “Yeah, I’m fine…good.”

Kurt smiled and kissed him. “Do you have lube and condoms?”

Blaine reached towards his nightstand, pulling out lube and a box of condoms. Kurt took the items from him and placed them on the bed near Blaine’s hip. 

Kurt kissed Blaine’s mouth before trailing kisses down his chest until he reached Blaine’s cock. Kurt licked at the tip, picking up the precome that was starting to drip before dropping his mouth down over Blaine. Blaine moaned, louder than Kurt had ever heard him. It was wild and uncontrolled. Kurt smiled around Blaine’s cock, so happy to see the effect he had on Blaine, and how all the layers were peeled back and Blaine was bare and exposed to him. It made Kurt’s heart swell with how much Blaine trusted him. 

Kurt traced a finger around Blaine’s hole, causing him to gasp and thrust down, then back up into Kurt’s mouth; undecided about where he wanted him more. Kurt pulled back briefly to grab the lube and take in Blaine’s debauched appearance. His arms were thrown out to the side and his head was back in pleasure. His eyes squeezed shut tight and a bright red flush ran across his chest. Kurt had never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

Kurt coated his fingers in lube and traced around Blaine’s hole, his other hand stroking gently at Blaine’s chest and stomach. Kurt made sure Blaine was prepped well, spending a long time stretching him and searching for the one spot Kurt knew would make Blaine fall apart. When he found it, Blaine gasped and his shoulders curled up off the bed. He reached down to hold Kurt’s wrist where it was, encouraging him to keep stroking him there.

Blaine babbled, “Oh, god. So good. Right there. Yes, Kurt. More.”

That was all Kurt needed to hear, he took Blaine’s hand off his wrist and slowly removed his hand. Blaine’s hole clenched at the emptiness while Kurt slid on the condom and applied a little extra lube.

Kurt moved up to kiss Blaine again, “You ready?”

Blaine’s eyes were dark and lust-filled, “Yeah. Please, Kurt.”

Kurt nodded, before he guided himself inside Blaine. Kurt pushed in slowly, allowing Blaine to adjust. When he was all the way in, he leaned down to capture Blaine’s mouth in a passionate kiss. Kurt began to thrust shallowly, still kissing Blaine, until the angle became awkward.

Blaine broke the kiss and said, “Kurt. Fuck me.”

Kurt pressed one more kiss to his lips before he began to thrust harder. Blaine’s hips were moving down to meet Kurt with each thrust and before long they were both on edge. Blaine’s hands moved to Kurt’s back and squeezed him close. “Oh god, more,” he moaned.

Kurt’s composure was cracking, “Oh, god Blaine. So good. Want to make you come.”

Blaine took one of Kurt’s hands from where they were resting next to his shoulder, and moved it to his cock. “Do it. Make me come”

Blaine didn’t have to tell him twice, Kurt stroked Blaine hard and fast, and before long Blaine was coming all over Kurt’s hand and his own chest. Blaine was clenching around Kurt, and drove him over the edge. Kurt moaned as he came, “Blaine.” 

Kurt collapsed forward on Blaine’s chest, smearing Blaine’s drying come between them. After a minute, Kurt rolled off to the side, pulled the condom off, and got off the bed. Blaine made a weak attempt at reaching for Kurt, only managing to grab his hip. “Just a second,” Kurt said, “I’m going to go get a washcloth to clean us up. I’ll be right back.”

Kurt tossed the used condom and got a wet washcloth to clean them both up. When he got back, he saw Blaine had rolled back over on to his side of the bed. He crawled back into bed, wiping first his own stomach then Blaine’s clean, then gently cleaning up Blaine’s ass.

As soon as Kurt had put the washcloth on the floor, Blaine pulled him close and cuddled into him. “Thank you.”

Kurt was surprised, that was not what he was expecting Blaine to say. “What for?”

“For waiting. For being you. For an amazing orgasm.”

Kurt smiled, “Oh, Blaine. You are more than worth waiting for. You’re amazing.” 

Blaine kissed him, hard. “I love you, Kurt.”

Kurt smiled, “I love you, Blaine.”

Blaine snuggled down into Kurt, wrapping his arms around Kurt’s waist. Just before he nodded off, he mumbled, “I forgot to light the candles.”

Kurt laughed quietly and kissed Blaine’s hair, “Its better this way, we don’t have to worry about burning down your building because we forgot to blow them out.”

Blaine laughed too, kissing Kurt’s chest before he fell asleep. Kurt stroked Blaine’s back, looking at the gorgeous man next to him, amazed that Blaine was his, and how lucky he was. Kurt fell asleep with a grin plastered on his face.

***  
Blaine woke up with his head on something hard; he blinked trying to remember what happened to his pillow. Blaine smiled remembered what happened last night, he snuggled down on to Kurt’s chest, carefully maneuvering his arms to better hold Kurt close. Blaine lays there, enjoying being cuddled in Kurt’s arms and watching him sleep for as long as his bladder will let him. Eventually he has to sneak out of bed to relieve himself. When he tiptoed back into his bedroom, Kurt was laying on his side, staring at him and smiling.

“Hi.”

Blaine crawled back into bed, “Hi.” He kissed Kurt soundly on the lips, when he tried to deepen the kiss, Kurt pulled back.

“Morning breath.”

“Mmmm” Blaine said, “Don’t care. Wanna kiss you.” Blaine kissed him again. They kissed for a long while until Kurt’s stomach was growling loudly and vibrating under Blaine.

Blaine laughed, “I guess you are hungry.”

Kurt blushed slightly, “Uh, yeah. I guess so.”

“I’ve got an idea. How about we go out for breakfast,” Blaine looked at the clock which read 10:30am, “…or brunch.”

“But I don’t have any clean clothes.”

Blaine thought for a moment before saying, “While you’re in the shower I’ll frebreeze your shirt and I can loan you a tie and some socks.”

Kurt kissed him, “Sounds delightful.” He climbed out of bed and swatted Blaine’s ass as he walked past him, “Come on, I’m starving.”

A half hour later, they were walking down the block to Blaine’s favorite diner for brunch. When they got there, they snagged the last available table and waited not-so-patiently for the waitress to pour them coffee. Before she was able to fill their cups, the door opened and Mercedes and Sam walked in. They looked around, spotting Blaine, who happened to be sitting facing the door, and waved. Blaine’s face fell from overjoyed to terrified in a millisecond. 

“What is it?” Kurt asked quietly.

“Sam and…” Blaine couldn’t finish warning Kurt before Sam and Mercedes had descended upon their table and were sitting down, Sam next to Blaine and Mercedes next to Kurt. “Hi guys! How’s it going?”

“Oh, just fabulous. Getting a late breakfast. How about you guys?” Mercedes said.

Blaine was blushing furiously, Kurt tried to comfort him by stroking his foot across Blaine’s ankle, but that just caused him to jump in his seat. Kurt answered, “Pretty much the same. Getting some Saturday morning brunch.”

Sam looked back and forth between Kurt and Blaine before winking at Mercedes and saying, “You owe me twenty bucks.”

She stared at him, “No way. Nuh uh.”

“Yes. Kurt is wearing Blaine’s tie, and Blaine is hiding even more than he normally does. They did it last night.” Sam exclaimed, louder than either Kurt or Blaine would have liked, “Pay up, hon!”

Mercedes sighed, pulling a twenty out of her wallet and slapping it on to Sam’s hand. 

Blaine and Kurt had never been gladder when the waitress appeared with fresh coffee, interrupting Sam and Mercedes’ antics.

“Do you know what you want to eat?” She asked politely.

Blaine shook his head, and Kurt responded, “I think we could use a few more minutes.”

She shrugged and walked away. After she left, Kurt turned to Mercedes, “Please, not now.”

Mercedes glanced at Blaine, who was tuning out the entire table and reading his menu, “No way, boy. You are telling me all the dirty details, right now.”

Kurt sighed, knowing that he would tell her most of the details, but maybe not some of the ways Blaine surprised him.

Sam elbowed Blaine in the side, “Hey, man.”

“What?”

“So you guys did it didn’t you?”

“I thought you already determined that.” Blaine took a sip of his coffee, desperately wishing to be anywhere else.

“Was it the first time?” Sam asked.

Blaine nodded. 

“Really? How, you guys have been seeing each other since what, October?”

“Yeah.” Blaine was blushing and ducking his head, wishing he was not trapped against the wall and he could escape this conversation, but there was no way.

“How?” Sam asked, “How have you guys not been banging since like the second date? Like I get you are shy and all that, but Kurt is hot, why were you not tapping that?”

Blaine didn’t think it was possible to want to shrink further into the wall then he did at that moment, “We just weren’t ready.”

“What? ‘Weren’t ready’ my ass. Kurt is the hottest guy, hell I’d tap that, what is wrong with you man?” Sam said.

Kurt had heard what Sam said and couldn’t stop himself from saying something, “Sam.” he warned with his most stern voice. Blaine looked up at Kurt then, feeling better just looking in his eyes. “First, thank you for the compliment. Second, Blaine’s right. We weren’t ready yet. Now we are, and it was good. Is there anything you need to know about our sex lives before breakfast or is that sufficient?”

Mercedes looked slightly guilty, “No, we’re good.”

Sam said, “Just one question, who topped?”

Both Blaine and Kurt blushed up to their ears, ducking their heads. 

Sam barked out a laugh and Mercedes giggled, “Well I guess we know that Blaine has been rubbing off on Kurt. Look at how much he’s blushing.”

Blaine smacked Sam hard in the chest so that all the air was knocked out of his lungs and he spluttered for a minute. Blaine looked smug and Kurt just grabbed his hand squeezing gently and smiling at him.

When Sam was able to talk again, he said, “Sorry, Dude. You know we love you guys right?”

***  
March  
Blaine invited Kurt to go with him to the Elementary School’s spring (ok, early spring) carnival fundraiser. Blaine had to go as a member of the staff, but he wanted to support the school and he also wanted to bring Kurt along to finally introduce him to his coworkers. 

They had gone out for afternoon coffee before showing up to the carnival hand in hand. Blaine made sure he introduced Kurt to his principal, Dr. Sophia Kreis, and the other Kindergarten teachers. Blaine also showed Kurt some of the artwork his students had made for the carnival, which was up for sale in the dollar booth as well as the lemonade stand that some of his Kindergartners were running. They stopped there and spent entirely too much money on little cups of lemonade, because it was just so sweet to watch them pour the glasses.

“Are you having fun,” Blaine asked.

“I am, this is really sweet. Your students are so cute.”

“They are, aren’t they.” Blaine grabbed Kurt’s hand, swinging it slightly between them. “So how do you feel about rides?”

“I feel like it is a very good idea.”

Blaine smiled and his nose crinkled, he was just so happy. He was at the school carnival, with his amazing boyfriend, and then they were going to spend the rest of the weekend together, and on Monday they were going to fly to Ohio together. It was going to be an amazing eight days, and Blaine couldn’t wait.

They got in line for the Cliff Hanger first, which simulated hang gliding. Blaine handed the operator the tickets they purchased from the third graders and led Kurt to one of the gliders. They lay down on the glider and one of the operators pulled the safety bars across their backs and locked them in. There was a pole between their legs and the safety bar pressed them tight to the metal they were laying on, but it felt safe. 

Kurt reached out for Blaine’s hand as the ride started to rise up off the ground. They started to spin around slowly, then accelerating and changing altitudes as it went around. Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand, smiling and laughing.

“It feels like I’m flying!”

Blaine laughed at Kurt and said “Wouldn’t it be cool to feel this all the time?”

Kurt glanced at Blaine and said, “I believe I can fly.”

Blaine laughed aloud as he sang the next line, “I believe I can touch the sky.”

They were both laughing as they sang, “Think about it every night and day, spread my wings and fly away. I believe I can soar, see me running through an open door. I believe I can fly!”

The ride kept around, feeling faster with each rotation. Every time they rounded the corner on while inclining, it felt like they were going to spin off into the night. The lights, already bright and overwhelming, were even more dizzying as they flew through the night. Far too soon, the ride was slowing down and they were being lowered back to the ground. Kurt and Blaine didn’t let go of each other’s hands until they needed to use them to get off the ride. 

They walked hand in hand off the ride and Blaine turned to Kurt, “Now, where?”

“What about that one?” Kurt said pointing to the Tilt-a-Whirl. “It was always my favorite when I was a kid.”

They walked over to get in line for the next ride. Once they were seated in a car on the Tilt-a-Whirl, strategically placed so they would create the maximum spin without losing contact with one another, Kurt asked, “Are you going to sing a song on every ride we go on?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, you are the one who started the last song. Also, I can’t think of any good songs about a Tilt-a-Whirl.”

Kurt bit his lip and looked down, trying not to let Blaine see his smile. Blaine moved his hand to Kurt’s thigh and squeezed. Kurt leaned over to kiss Blaine soundly on the mouth. Quickly turning more heated, Blaine licked at Kurt’s bottom lip, asking for entrance that was quickly granted. The kiss was interrupted by the ride jerking into motion. 

It appeared that Kurt was an expert at the Tilt-a-Whirl, he leaned right and left at exactly the right moment so they never stopped spinning and gaining speed so all of the lights at the fair were just a blur. Kurt laughed every time he was hit with a wave of tingles in his stomach from the spinning. Blaine had a smile plastered on his face the whole time, despite feeling faintly nauseous.

When the ride ended, Kurt leaped up, ready to take on the next ride, while Blaine stumbled slowly behind him. Kurt turned around to look for his boyfriend, finding that Blaine was looking a little pale. 

“Are you ok?” Kurt asked, gently touching Blaine’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little dizzy.”

“Do you want to go sit down somewhere?”

Blaine nodded and Kurt led them to where there was an unoccupied picnic table. As soon as he sat down, Blaine started to feel better. He took Kurt’s hand and was rubbing his thumb over Kurt’s knuckles when Kurt said, “I thought of a song for the Tilt-a-Whirl.”

Blaine raised an eyebrow in response and Kurt started singing, “You spin me right round, baby  
right round like a record, baby right round round round.”

Blaine laughed loudly, leaning across the table to press a kiss to Kurt’s lips. Sam and Mercedes sitting down next to them interrupted them. Blaine sighed angrily. 

“Oh, stop, boy. We are in public and with your students, just chill.” Mercedes said.

“Quiet. Its not like the two of us kissing is any worse that what their parents do at home.”

“Maybe not, but many people still don’t like the idea of two guys kissing.” Sam chimed in.

“Well, they can just get over it. Because its just a part of their world now.” Kurt added.

Blaine smiled, happy that he had his best friend and his boyfriend with him tonight. Blaine excused himself briefly to go talk to some of the parents casually. When he returned to the table Sue Sylvester was sitting there, talking to Kurt. Blaine was worried, but calmly walked over to the table. Glad Sam was there to protect Kurt from her wrath.

“Wow, that’s fantastic.” Sue said as Blaine sat down, “Did you hear that, Sparkle Pony.” Kurt seemed to get upset with Sue’s nickname, Mercedes just calmed him down by whispering something to him, “Your boy, Porcelain, here has his own fashion line coming out soon.”

“I did know that, Sue. Kurt’s pretty amazing.”

“Well that’s great. I’m happy for you, Sparkles.” Sue squeezed Blaine’s shoulder and got up from the table.

Blaine let out a sigh of relief before asking Kurt, “She wasn’t too horrible, was she?”

“No, she was actually kinda nice. I’m not sure why you hate her so much.”

“Well, I’m glad she was nice to you. But ‘Sparkle Pony’ is the nicest nickname she has ever come up with for me.”

They hung around at the table chatting, and before they left about an hour later, Blaine made sure to stop and say ‘Goodbye’ to all his students and wish them a fantastic spring break. Some of the students even told ‘Mr. Kurt’ to have a nice spring break too. Sometimes his students were really just too cute for words.

***  
Back at the end of February, Kurt had casually brought up. Well, he had brought up the idea of them moving in together after the school year ended. The conversation had gone pretty much exactly the way Kurt had anticipated it would. Kurt was a little nervous, but knew it needed to be done; well Kurt knew it was something they at least needed to talk about. They spent more nights at each other’s places than alone in their own apartments, and when they did stay over, it was always a scramble to figure out what to wear to work the next day. This was more of a problem for Kurt than Blaine, considering most of his bowties were reversible and he could just throw his shirt and pants in the wash when he got to Kurt’s place.

Kurt had carefully breached the subject.

_”So, Blaine,” Kurt asked, “What would you like about the idea of possibly, sometime in the future, sharing an apartment. We could get a two bedroom place, so you have and office and I have a place where I can put my sewing, besides in the bedroom. Then we could share the bedroom and then you wouldn’t have to do laundry every time you came over to stay at my place and I wouldn’t have to artfully figure out how to rewear my outfits two days in a row. I mean, we already spend so much time together; it just seems like the natural next step. But if you’re not ready, we don’t have to. I am completely ok with staying where I live now, I just, I want to be around you all the time, I like you.”_

_Blaine laughed, “Kurt, you’re rambling.”_

_Kurt stopped dead in the middle of his rant, “I… sorry.”_

_“Its ok, don’t be sorry. I want to live with you too. I have been trying to figure out a way to bring up this topic since…” Blaine trailed off, then swallowed and said, “Well, since I gave you a key to my place.”_

_“Oh, Blaine.”_

_Blaine smiled and leaned across the table to press a kiss to his lips._

_“So, what you’re saying is that you would not be opposed to going apartment shopping sometime soon.”_

_“That is correct. I will even suggest a day.” Kurt looked curious, “The first Saturday of my spring break, before we are going to Ohio.”_

_“That is actually perfect.”_

_Blaine preened slightly, “And it works great, because the night before is the school carnival fundraiser. Do you want to go with me?”_

_“Uh, sure.” Kurt was skeptical, “Is it ok to bring me though, will the parents be ok with your boyfriend being around their students. They won’t get upset that we are trying to ‘corrupt’ their kids?”_

_“No. Well, I hope not. And if they do have an issue, they can calmly talk to us about it like adults. I mean they aren't children, and I can tell you their children have heard about Mr. Blaine’s adorably boyfriend Mr. Kurt._

_Kurt couldn't stop himself from leaning across the table again and kissing his boyfriend._

Which is how the two of them ended up running all across Brooklyn looking at apartments all day on Saturday. The first place they looked at was in Blaine’s current neighborhood. From the outside, the building looked good, it had a secure entrance and everything they could want. Except when they got inside, it was their worst nightmare. The apartment was tidy, but it looked unnaturally tidy. When they opened the cupboards, they saw all they needed to know. There were roach traps everywhere and even a few dead roaches just lying amidst the food scraps that were littered in the cupboards. They didn’t make it any farther than the kitchen in that apartment.

The next one was better, it was in the same neighborhood as Blaine’s school, but it was on a subway line that would have been a nightmare for Kurt to get to work, it would make it at least an hour plus and would require three transfers. The apartment was a two bedroom, but only strictly in the sense of there being doors to two of the rooms, but one of them was really a glorified closet; in fact Kurt was convinced that it was a converted closet and they put in a faux window to bring it up to code. So despite being convenient for Blaine, ultimately when they ran into a bunch of Blaine’s students in the building’s lobby on their way out, it was decided that Blaine didn’t want to be running into the parents every day.

The third place was actually in Manhattan, they knew they couldn’t realistically afford it, but wanted to look just on the off chance that it was something they liked. It was in a pretty good location for Kurt, but really far for Blaine. The building itself wasn’t anything special, it looked like every other New York apartment building. Inside the lobby there were gilded chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and a doorman. They went up to the unit for rent and were surprised that it larger than the last unit they’d seen. The rent was surprisingly inexpensive. It was at the top of their 1500 a month budget, but they could still make it work. It would mean not having cable, and maybe not going out as often, but they could do it. They asked the landlord why the rent was so inexpensive. She said that the elderly couple who lived there until recently both died in the apartment. The man died in his sleep and not wanting to live without her love, she committed suicide. Romantic but also really creepy. Blaine whispered to Kurt that he couldn’t live there; Kurt agreed.

By the time they reached the fourth and final apartment for the day, they were exhausted. It was very far south in Brooklyn, almost to Manhattan Beach and the ocean. But it was on only a block away from the subway to Bryant Park for Kurt, and Blaine could get to his school directly with a bus that stopped on the same corner. The building was average and the neighborhood was also average. The real surprise was when they walked into the apartment with dark, almost mahogany, wood floors, and matching dark cabinets in the kitchen. The extra bedroom-slash-office was large; big enough that it could be both an extra bedroom and an office-slash-workroom for them. The bedroom had an ensuite bathroom, the only bathroom in the apartment, which was very modern with stylish new fixtures and an exposed brick wall in the shower. The bedroom was large with two good-sized closets. The apartment had everything they were looking, and much to Blaine’s surprise they also allowed pets, and maybe after a few months Blaine could talk Kurt into getting a pet. 

They were both prepared to have to give up this apartment because it was way out of their price range or already snatched up by someone else. However they were in luck, the apartment was only $1425 per month, and was available June 1st. They signed the lease that very same afternoon.

They decided to go out to dinner in their new neighborhood to celebrate, having one too many glasses of wine, and had to take the train back to Kurt’s apartment, which was closer than Blaine’s. 

***  
Blaine and Kurt stumbled into Kurt’s apartment, as soon as they got the door shut behind them, Blaine shoved Kurt against the wall, pinning him there with his kiss. They had had too much to drink and Blaine wanted nothing more than to jerk Kurt off in the bathroom of the restaurant. Kurt was opposed to the idea, because that was not the thing to do in a classy restaurant. They were high on finding a new apartment and each other, and the alcohol didn’t help matters any. Then the train ride where they could do little more than talk in hushed tones and hold hands had gotten to both of them. Now they could barely wait until they were inside Kurt’s apartment before they were all over each other.

Kurt’s hands worked their way around Blaine’s neck, holding him close and teasing some of the curls out of the gel hold. Blaine’s knee was wedged between Kurt’s legs, pressing deliciously against his rapidly hardening cock. Kurt moaned into Blaine’s kiss. He rutted down into Blaine’s thigh, the pressure almost enough to get him there, but he didn’t want it to be over too soon. Kurt pulled back, brushing his thumbs across Blaine’s cheeks.

“Come on, bedroom.” Kurt led the way into his bedroom, despite the fact that Blaine had been there many times. On the short walk to the bedroom, Blaine stripped off most of his clothes, leaving them in a trail behind him, Kurt laughed when he turned around to see his boyfriend pulling off his briefs and standing naked behind Kurt’s fully-clothed form. 

Kurt chuckled, “I guess I should catch up.”

“Yeah, you are wearing entirely too many clothes.”

Kurt struck a pose, “Well looking this good isn’t easy.”

Blaine mimicked his pose, “Looking this good is.”

Kurt stuck his tongue out at Blaine as he pulled down his pants and underwear in one movement. “This better?”

Blaine grabbed Kurt’s hips, pulling him close to grind against his cock. Kurt moaned and continued to rock into Blaine. When he was getting close, Kurt stopped Blaine by saying, “As much as this is amazing, I really want you to fuck me.”

Blaine nodded. He helped Kurt take off his shirt before gently nudging him down on to the bed.

Kurt reached towards his nightstand, pulling out lube. “I…” Kurt trailed off, “I don’t have any condoms.”

“Oh, ok. Well then we can do something else.” Blaine said, making sure he kept the disappointment out of his voice, it wasn’t often that Kurt wanted Blaine to fuck him, but when he did, it was always amazing.

“Well…” Kurt started, he swallowed thickly and closed his eyes before saying, “I’m clean, and if you are…”

Before Kurt could finish his sentence, Blaine covered his mouth in a heated kiss. “I was clean last time I went in, and I have ‘t been with anyone since then, well except you, obviously. That really didn’t need saying.” 

Kurt kissed him again. “Are you sure?”

Blaine cupped Kurt’s cheek, “I’m more than sure.”

“Ok.” Kurt said, “Let’s do this.”

Blaine laughed, “You make it sound like torture or a medical procedure or something.”

Kurt kissed him, “You know that’s not true. You know it’s magical, every single time.”

It was.

***  
The next morning Blaine and Kurt were cuddling in bed, just enjoying each other and the fact that the only thing they needed to do on this particular Sunday was pack for their trip to Ohio and print out their tickets. They cuddled in bed all morning and well into the early afternoon.

Kurt was trying to convince Blaine to get up and get them some more snacks, which quite frankly surprised Blaine. Blaine would have never suspected that Kurt was a fan of eating in bed, but when Kurt was in cuddle-mode, which was Blaine’s favorite time, Kurt didn’t want to leave the bed for anything. And with Kurt wanting to cuddle, kiss, make out, and have lazy sex all day, Blaine was no more inclined to leave the bed. Except for the fact that his stomach was growling, quite loudly, and maybe coffee and strawberries was not a sufficient breakfast for all the activity they had done so far today. Four orgasms, but who was counting.

Blaine reluctantly got out of bed to fetch some cheese and crackers and hummus. It would surly be messy, but also fun, and they could always lick the spilled bits of cheese and hummus off each other. The cracker crumbs on the other hand posed a real problem, because no one wants crumbs up their ass. As soon as he had finished putting together a plate of food and grabbing two cans of Diet Coke, Blaine heard his phone ringing from where it was plugged in in the bedroom, he shouted to Kurt, “Can you answer that?”

Blaine hurried back into the bedroom where Kurt looked concerned and was ready to hand the phone over to him. Blaine set the food and drinks down on the nightstand. Blaine took his phone, covering the receiver with his palm and whispered, “Who is it?”

Kurt’s expression shifted from concerned to genuine worry, and Blaine immediately assumed the worst. Kurt said, “Dr. Kreis.”

That was not at all the name Blaine was expecting to hear from Kurt. Blaine was instantly worried and very curious why his principal would be calling him, on his personal cell phone, on a Sunday afternoon, at the beginning of spring break. Something had to be wrong. Blaine braced himself for the worst and took the phone from Kurt.

“Hello”

“Hi, Blaine. It’s Dr. Kreis. How are you doing?”

“I’m… uh… doing alright. And yourself?”

“Just fine, thank you.”

Blaine wasn’t sure what to say, so he waited for her to continue.

“Despite how nice it is to talk to you, and your lovely boyfriend, Kurt, that isn’t why I called.”

“I sorta figured as much.”

“I am very sorry to interrupt your weekend, but I just got this message myself and I wanted to bring it to your attention as soon as possible, especially because of spring break being this week, and I thought you might be going out of town.”

“I am actually. I’m heading to Ohio to see my family tomorrow.”

“Oh, lovely. Well, I was informed early this morning, via email, of the agenda for the upcoming school board meeting.”

“Okay.” Blaine was thoroughly confused. He wasn’t sure where she was going with this, and was also pretty sure he wasn’t going to like it. Kurt was watching him intently. Blaine wished he could send Kurt a reassuring smile, but all he could do was stare at the wall.

“Some of the parents have raised a complaint about you to the school board and they have managed to get it on the agenda for the next meeting.”

Blaine was shocked, “A complaint about me? What was it? Can they do that?”

“Well the way they have gone about this is very unorthodox. The school board president’s wife is best friends with one of the parents who is leading the accusations against you, so she was able to use it in her favor. It will be discussed at Wednesday night’s monthly school board meeting.”

“I see.” Blaine said, getting more and more worried by the second. There was no way this could possibly be good. “So what is the accusation?”

Sophia sighed, “There is no easy way to say this. This group of parents are concerned about you teaching students, especially the Kindergarten class, because of your sexual orientation. They are worried that you might somehow be injuring the students and that you would be a bad influence on them.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, it was like all the wind had been pushed out of Blaine’s lungs. He sat down roughly on the edge of the bed. Blaine felt like he couldn't breathe. This was his worst nightmare, and it was coming true. He was going to be kicked out of the classroom and that record would follow him. He knew he should have never brought Kurt to the school event, even though it was perfectly acceptable for everyone else to bring their significant others. Hell, maybe it was even a bad idea to start dating Kurt in the first place. Blaine was spiraling, and it was not going to end well.

“Is there anything I can do?” Blaine sounded broken. Kurt moved to wrap his arm around Blaine’s shoulder, but he just shrugged it off. Kurt was a little taken aback, because Blaine was never one to turn down comfort.

“Well, I want to firstly say, that I don’t believe that being gay is grounds for termination, and I will fight it with all the power I have. Second, I know you would never hurt anyone, especially a child. And third, I know the staff will support you too. But they do have the advantage of having this meeting over spring break. There are a lot of people gone, and you can be sure that every single person with a complaint will be there. But I am going to do my best to get as many people there to support you as possible.”

Blaine’s voice was weak, but he wasn’t crying, he was too stunned to cry. “Thank you. I will of course be there.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to your Sunday plans. I’m terribly sorry to have interrupted you, and with such troubling news.”

“No, thank you for calling, Dr. Kreis. I will stop by the school and see if there is anything more I can do tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds good, Blaine. Take care. And give Kurt my best, will you?”

“Of course. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Blaine ended the call and let the phone hang between his legs. It fell to the floor with a soft thud. When Blaine made no move to get it, Kurt reached around and grabbed it, placing it out of the way. 

Kurt tried again to place his hand on Blaine’s back, but this time it wasn’t shrugged off, Blaine moved closer to him. Kurt stroked soothing circles on Blaine’s back, not saying anything, waiting until Blaine was ready to talk.

Blaine just sat there for a long time, he wasn’t sure how long, but Kurt was there the entire time, just waiting, not pressuring him to say anything. When Blaine finally did talk, he couldn’t stop. Everything just fell out, and Kurt took it all in. Kurt was as shocked as Blaine was, and vowed to help any way he could.

Blaine decided that there was no way he could leave for Ohio, even if he did change his flight to come back before the meeting. He wouldn’t be in the right place to meet Kurt’s family, which had been part of the plan, and there was no way he was going to be able to deal with his own parents. Later that evening, Blaine convinced Kurt to go anyway without him. Kurt hadn’t been home in a long time and he really should spend some quality time with his family. Kurt was reluctant at first, naturally, but Blaine convinced him that he would keep him posted and if Kurt wanted even have him on FaceTime during the meeting on Wednesday.

So Blaine took Kurt to the airport Monday morning, then went in to school on his first official day off, and tried to come up with a way to convince the school board to not fire him outright.

***  
Blaine felt like Wednesday evening could simultaneously not come soon enough as well as was approaching like a freight train going full speed ahead. Regardless, Wednesday came and Blaine had hardly slept since Sunday night, when Kurt forced him to cuddle until he fell asleep. But without Kurt there, Blaine was feeling restless and overwhelmed. Kurt did his best to comfort Blaine, but there wasn’t much he could say or do, because the situation was completely out of his control.

Blaine walked into the district office where the meeting was being held almost an hour early. He had been pacing around his apartment, gone to his classroom, rearranged the whole room, prepped the next three weeks of curriculum, and still had two hours to kill before the meeting. Blaine stopped for coffee, and did everything else he could think of to waste time, but it was without avail.

Blaine found a seat in the middle of the room off to the right, and sat there playing games on his phone. Around fifteen minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start, the room started to fill up. Near him sat Sam and the other Kindergarten teachers, as well as a few other teachers who weren’t away on spring break. When she got there, Sophia, placed her hand on Blaine’s shoulder and squeezed. 

The meeting was called to order a few minutes after 6pm; then about 10 minutes later Kurt texted asking to be called in on FaceTime. Blaine gave him a tight smile when he appeared on his screen and Kurt waved. Blaine held his finger up to his mouth to signal Kurt to keep quiet; he nodded in response.

The fifth item on the agenda was the “Inappropriate behavior of Mr. Blaine Anderson, Kindergarten Teacher at Barak Obama Elementary.” The first person asked to present the issue in front of the school board, was the mother who complained. She explained what she saw – Blaine with Kurt at the family-friendly carnival acting like any other couple, holding hands. She cited some research – gay men were ten times more likely to molest and abuse young children. Blaine found the research suspicious, and was fairly convinced that she made it up. Or found it on an anti-gay website. She finally expressed her concern for Blaine’s professional abilities, all but insinuating that he must not be a very intelligent person because he had chosen to teach Kindergarten, clearly a position for young women before they gave up their career to be housewives.

All throughout her speech, Blaine kept checking how Kurt was reacting, and it was exactly as he was reacting in the room, himself. Sam kept making horrified and disbelieving noises next to him. When she was done speaking. The president of the board, asked Dr. Kreis to speak. She spoke about how great Blaine was as a teacher. How she had never received a complaint about him, until now, and technically this one was never sent to her. She talked about how the students loved ‘Mr. Blaine’ and how the rest of the coworkers looked up to Blaine as a leader. He was always on top of professional development and the latest teaching methodologies and always implementing new technology into his classroom. His behavior referrals were minimal and his students performed highly both on classroom tests as well as standardized tests. Blaine was, as far as she was concerned, a model teacher, and the board would be idiots to fire him.

After this, Blaine was asked if he would like to come up and say a few words. Blaine shook his head and was able to find the voice to say simply, “No thank you.”

Then he asked if there was anyone else who had something to say. One woman stood up, who was sitting next to the woman who had started the whole complaint to begin with. Blaine was worried and Kurt typed out a text asking what was wrong. Blaine explained that he was worried that this next parent was going to tear him apart too.

She started to speak, “My daughter, Annabelle, is in Mr. Anderson’s class. She comes home from school every day telling us, my wife and I, all the amazing things she has learned in Mr. Blaine’s class. She talks about the stories they read and the art projects they made, and the really cool science they did. When the class made ooblek, she couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks, and made Sally and I make it with her at home over the weekend.”

Blaine let out a sigh of relief; this was looking up. She continued on and on about how much her daughter admired Blaine, and how she thought he was one of the best teacher’s she’d ever met.

When she was done talking, a man stood up. He talked about how his son was in Blaine’s class and Blaine had inspired his son to take reading seriously. Blaine immediately knew who his son was just from the description. This was the boy who hated books on principle and refused to let anyone read him stories. After Blaine had discovered that he was very interested in rockets and ‘going into outer space’, they added a space week and learned about rockets, and even used a book to get the directions to build functioning rockets. After that week, the boy had come up to Blaine and asked if he could borrow the rocket book over the weekend. 

Blaine could see the expressions of many of the parents, and more importantly the board members soften. Blaine knew that this board was pushing literacy and a love of reading, there were reading posters all over the schools, and all of the elementary schools in New York City were trying to improve their ranking nationally at reading. This story might have saved him.

They allowed the original mother who complained to give a final statement. She just restated what she had already said, and then the matter was called for a vote. The president of the board called each member by name starting at the far right. The first two members voted in favor of firing Blaine. He gulped and looked glumly at Kurt, there was no way this was going to end in his favor. The next two votes were split, one yay and one nay. The next three votes were not to fire him. 

When it was the last person’s chance to vote, she stated, “This is not the first time I have sat in one of these meetings where someone’s sexual orientation was used to call their teaching qualifications in to question. I am a firm believer that the decision of who is capable of teaching should be left to the principals in the individual schools. I also agree with the ruling that the state of New York has in place that prevents someone from being fired on the basis of sexual orientation. I believe that firing Blaine Anderson, would not only be illegal, it would also be a serious detriment to the students of Barak Obama Elementary, and to our district as a whole. I will proudly vote Nay on item five.”

The president of the board, spoke, “That makes the vote three yay and five nay. My vote on this matter is unnecessary, however I would like to say that I will also cast a nay vote. By a vote of six to three, Blaine Anderson is not to be removed from his position of Kindergarten teacher at Barak Obama Elementary.”

Blaine sat there stunned; he could hear the muffled cheers of joy from Kurt’s end of the phone. Next to him Sam and the other teachers were celebrating and Sophia came over to give Blaine a huge hug. Blaine just stood there, shocked, he could not believe what he was hearing. Despite the worst beginning of a week in his life, Blaine was going to have the best ending of a week in his life. Not only was he not fired, he also heard from two of his student’s parents how much they respect him and how much of a difference he makes in the student’s lives.

The president disbanded the meeting early, because of the commotion in the room. After the meeting, Blaine was swept up with all his coworkers to go celebrate at the bar. Blaine snuck to the bathroom to briefly talk to Kurt, where he was, of course, caught by Sam, and his phone was confiscated for the rest of the night.

When Kurt got back to New York, their celebration continued. Blaine’s first day back at school, all of the parents, except for the one who complained and her two friends, dropped off their children and stayed so they could present Blaine with a much larger rainbow flag for his classroom and a cake. They were all so happy that Blaine was going to be staying; they ended up spending all of the morning celebrating in his classroom. Blaine couldn’t believe the support and was so very happy to have them all in his life.

***  
June - Epilogue

The first weekend after school ended for the summer, Blaine was moving into his new apartment with Kurt. They had spent long weeks packing up their things, getting ready for the day when they had rented the moving truck. Upon hearing that he was moving, some of the parents from Blaine’s class offered their hands to help carry boxes. All together the move went very quickly. They moved everything out of their apartments and in to the new one in about seven hours.

After they had put the bed together, Blaine flopped back on to it, groaning in exhaustion.

“No, Blaine, don’t lay down now. If you do that, we’ll never get the rest of the apartment set up tonight. Kurt said while he was organizing his clothing in the closet.

“Its fine, we got the most important piece of furniture set up.” Blaine’s stomach growled just then.

Kurt smirked, “And what are you going to do about that?”

Blaine chewed on his lip, “Order a pizza?”

Kurt looked down at the floor for a moment before adding, “Actually that sounds delicious.”

Blaine went to order delivery and then returned to the bedroom. He mustered up the energy to put the sheets on the bed before he collapsed again. This time, Kurt joined him on the bed. Kurt pressed a kiss to his lips, tangling his fingers in the loose curls at the nape of Blaine’s neck. 

When he pulled back from the kiss, he said, “I’m so lucky, I get to live with my amazing, sweet, sexy, talented boyfriend.”

Blaine ducked his head into Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt put his fingers under Blaine’s chin, “Don’t get shy on me now.”

“Not shy,” Blaine said, “Just happy. Perfect.”

Kurt kissed him again, “This is perfect.”


End file.
